So that's the first day of Wimbledon over, and unfortunately for a lot of the players play was rained off during the late afternoon which will lead to alot of match delays. However no one who played on Centre court had the same trouble thanks to that retractable roof.
Today also saw the start of Rafa and Andy's campaigns. Starting with Rafa he faced off against yank Michael Russell who put in an entertaining display, and despite Rafa double faulting in the first set to hand Russell a break, Rafa broke back immediately and after that it was pretty much plain sailing, as he defeated the American quite easily in 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. It was quite a convincing display from Rafa and it does show he is definitely in a better place after having won the French Open, so we could be looking at a 3rd Wimbledon title for the Spaniard but we'll see.
Onto Andy's match, which was a much sterner test as he faced a surprisingly tough first opponent in Daniel Guimeo-Traver (who actually doesn't look that Spanish!) the World No.56. Despite having had a bad year so far, Traver did produce a very solid display in the first and second sets, especially as Andy dropped his serve at 4-5 to hand Traver the first set. However in the second despite a strong start Andy secured the break at 5-3 and never looked back, after that the match changed completely and Andy crushed the Spaniard and handed him a double bagel for the 3rd and 4th sets, with the final result 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 in just over 2 hours. It was an entertaining match although the easier it got for Andy I felt sorry for Traver who just lost his way entirely, I think he was also nursing a knee injury as he called out the trainer at one point in the 3rd set, and after that his once pulverising forehands just fell away. Again Muzza's attitude on court was very good, even when he was a set down he didn't get angry with himself, he held his cool, and its starting to show the Andy Murray we want to see, he's starting to mature as a player and a person, so I hope he keeps it up as it will stand him in good stead for the rest of the tournament.
So that's the start of the men's campaigns on the ladies side, we had Vera Zvonareva who came through a tough test also against the American Alison Riske (appropriate name!) in 3 sets in 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. Francesca Schiavone also came through a tough match too against an old rival Jelena Dokic also in 3 sets 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, which marked the first time she was able to beat Dokic in their previous meetings. However Venus Williams came through her match in straight sets against her Uzbekistanian opponent Akgul Amanmuradova in 6-3, 6-1.
Tomorrow will see the other top seeds out on play, Federer and Djokovic as they take on their first round opponents. It will be especially interesting to see how Federer plays at Wimbledon this year, as he was on fire at the French Open, but there is the concern that he might have peaked too soon. Because if he isn't on form he won't stand a chance this time against Djokovic whom I sure will be out to get even for last time at Roland Garros. But its all waiting to happen and its going to be very entertaining to see how it unravels.
So here's hoping that tomorrow the rain has gone and the brollies are not needed. Until then tara.
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