Daniil Medvedev enters Wimbledon with a fresh burst of confidence following his run at the tournament 12 months ago. 

Having previously never gone beyond the fourth round, he battled through to the semi-finals before getting stopped in his tracks by Carlos Alcaraz, who went on to win the title. A formidable hardcourt player on the Tour, his success on other surfaces is smaller. Just one out of his 20 ATP titles was won on the grass.  

Medvedev began his latest campaign at The All England Club with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, win over America’s Aleksandar Kovacevic. He has won 230 matches since the start of 2020 which is more than any other player on the ATP Tour. The Russian appears to be in solid form but what did he learn about his from the tournament last year?

“I always felt kind of not bad, but sometimes you get Hurkacz or someone else, and it’s a big serve, and you can lose some tiebreaks,” Medvedev commented on his grasscourt game.
“Last year I managed to go step-by-step till the semifinals. Against Carlos, I had to do much better. I lost easy, to be honest.
“I think this for sure gives me confidence for this year knowing that I can take this step by step, then against the best players I need to be better. I’m ready to do it.”

One area Medvedev has been working on concerns his consistency during matches. During his pre-Wimbledon preparation, he only played two Tour-level matches in Halle, losing in the second round to China’s Zhang Zhizhen.

“When I come on grass the first week, my forehand, especially with my big swing, I would hit it too late. Not a good rhythm.” He explained.
“I was working a lot on everything, movement. Different muscle work, a lot of physical work. 
“A lot of serving for sure and a lot of repetition of just hitting the ball and trying to find the rhythm.”

The work seems to be paying off for the world No.5 judging by his latest match statistics. In his first round match, he won 79% of his first service points and hit nearly two times more winners than unforced errors (33 against 17).

Medvedev’s next challenge will be against Alexandre Müller, who is currently ranked 102nd in the world and is yet to win back-to-back matches at a major event.

Carlos Alcaraz kicked off his quest for a second consecutive Wimbledon title with a tricky opening win over Mark Lajal.

The 21-year-old withstood some stern resistance from the Estonian world No.269 before fighting his way to a 7-6(3), 7-5, 6-2, victory in what is only his 12th main draw win at the All England Club. He has extended his perfect record over qualifiers to 7-0. In his latest match, he hit 44 winners against 28 unforced errors.

“Stepping on this court, Centre Court of Wimbledon … I still get nerves when I’m playing here,” Alcaraz said during his on-court interview. “I practiced 45 minutes on Thursday, and it’s the first time that I was nervous on a practice, just because I’m playing here. I’m glad, and I’m privileged, to play here on this court.
“I tried not to think about it. This is a new year, a totally different tournament … to play at the same level as last year if I want to repeat the same result.”

Taking to Center Court, the Spaniard was made to work by Lajal, who is exactly one week younger than him and was making his Grand Slam debut after coming through the qualifying rounds. Lajal was hoping to become only the second man from his country to reach the second round at Wimbledon and the first since 1967.

On paper, the showdown should have been a one-way encounter for Alcaraz given that his rival had never faced a top 30 player on the Tour until today. However, Lajal relished the challenge and caught the world No.2 off guard by breaking him in the fifth game. The underdog’s threat didn’t last long as Alcaraz hit back immediately with a 10-point winning streak to nudge back into the lead in what was a closer-than-expected opening set. Eventually, Alcaraz weathered the storm to clinch a 7-6 lead after 54 minutes.

The cat-and-mouse chase continued in the second frame with Alcaraz yet again going down a break before battling back to draw level. Then towards the business end, he snatched another break for a 6-5 lead before sealing the second set with a love service game.

Storming towards the finish line, the former world No.1 sealed the match by winning six out of the last eight games played. Claiming victory with a forehand winner.

“He played a really good match,” Alcaraz said in tribute to his rival. “He surprised me a little bit because I didn’t see him too much playing, practicing, but I think he has the level to go up a lot.
“He’s really young, he’s my age, so I’m sure I’m going to see him really soon in the tour and play against him more often.”

It is the fourth year in a row that Alcaraz has won his opening match at The All-England Club. He is bidding to become the first man outside the Big Three to defend his Wimbledon title since Pete Sampras in 2000.

Casper Ruud returned to winning ways on the first day at Wimbledon in what was also his first match on the grass this year. 

Ruud, who is seeded eighth in this year’s draw, battled to a 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4, win over Australia’s Alex Bolt where he dropped serve only once in the match. Despite being a multiple Grand Slam finalist, the Norwegian is yet to find his footing at Wimbledon and has never been beyond the second round so far in his career. 

“I’m just happy to go through. Every match win on grass for me, it’s important, and I’m happy about it. So happy to move on.” Ruud told reporters. 

Ruud’s preparation for the tournament has been far from ideal. Whilst playing Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals at Roland Garros, it was noticeable that he was feeling unwell. At the time, he was unaware of what the issue was. Tests later revealed that he was infected by a parasite which was likely caused by dirty water. However, it is not known when the infection occurred. 

Symptoms he suffered from included a loss of appetite and fatigue which left him bed-bound for more than a week. 

“I had this kind of uncommon small parasite that I had been infected with through not sure where, but the most kind of normal place where you can get infected from it is through just unclean water.” He said. 
“Symptoms can last and bother you for about two weeks. I was mostly in bed for 11 — 10, 11 days, which was not what I was kind of hoping for. Those days are my kind of days off after a busy stretch of five months in a row with a lot oftournaments.”

Fortunately, Ruud now says he feels close to full fitness and he isn’t dwelling too much on the timing of his illness. 

“I’m back for 10, 11, 12 days already eating pretty well, so it’s not a problem anymore.” He stated. 
“It was just kind of unlucky that it happened in the semifinals (of the French Open) but at the same time, it would be worse if it happened in the first round.
“It was still a good run for me in Paris. Just a bit unfortunate that I started feeling it there and that I wasn’t able to play any golf for the days to follow.”

Ruud is one of 10 players to win multiple Tour-level titles before Wimbledon this season. He has now won just five Tour-level matches on the grass so far in his career. 

Awaiting him in the second round will be Italian veteran Fabio Fognini, who defeated France’s Luca Van Assche 6-1, 6-3, 7-5, earlier in the day.