As far as crowd receptions go, it doesn’t get much better than the standing ovation Andy Murray got when he walked onto Centre Court as the reigning champion at Wimbledon.
And the Scot rewarded the fans with an equally impressive performance, staving off an inspired challenge from Belgium’s David Goffin to smoothly advance to the second round 6-1, 6-4, 7-5.
“I was pretty nervous before the match. To come to the court and get that reception, it was very nice. I think the crowd was pretty much full from the start. It was great,” said Murray, who is bidding to become the first British man to retain the Wimbledon title since Fred Petty in 1936.
“I enjoyed the walk to the chair. Then when I sat down, it was time to get on with business.”
Murray had an almost flawless start, racing to a 3-0 lead and breaking again with an inch-perfect lob in the sixth game before sealing the opening set with a service winner. He hit just four unforced errors in that set and won 81 per cent of his first serve points.
Goffin, who was trying to win just his fourth tour-level match of the year, stepped up in the second set but Murray still got the break he needed in the third game and gave the Belgian world No104 no looks on his serve.
The third set was even until the No3 seed broke in the 11th game and he never looked back, booking a second round meeting with Slovenian Blaz Rola.
“I played very well. I hit the ball very well. I hit it clean from the beginning of the match,” said Murray, who maintained his undefeated record against Belgian opposition.
It was Murray and Amelie Mauresmo’s Grand Slam debut as a team and the world No5 said his French coach helped him deal with his nerves as she shared her experience of being a defending champion at the All England Club.
“I spoke to her a little bit about it and asked her how she dealt with it (returning to Wimbledon as the reigning champion),” said Murray.
“One of the things she said was she tried to take in the atmosphere and the experience of walking out on the court as the defending champion. You never know if you’ll get the chance to do it again.
“So that was one of the things she told me to try and do. We talked about the other things that come with it, as well. Obviously, the extra pressure and stuff.”
Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov also had a phenomenal first round, beating qualifier Ryan Harrison 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-2 to match his previous best showing at Wimbledon.
The No11 seed is considered one of the outside contenders this fortnight, having picked up the title in Queen’s last week, which was his third title of the season. He is yet to take his consistency into the majors though, but he believes he is on the right track.
Last year’s quarter-finalist and No18 seed Fernando Verdasco suffered the first big upset of the day as he was sent packing by Australian Marinko Matosevic 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Matosevic hadn’t won a grand slam match prior to this year’s Roland Garros but had a good Wimbledon preparation, making the quarter-finals in Queen’s.
“Tennis is like this. I tried to play my best. I didn’t. That’s it,” said a frustrated Verdasco.
