Wimbledon 2016: Marcus Willis is astonishing and Dan Evans fab – they made the first day at SW19 a success for Brits
James Ward deserves credit for Novak Djokovic fightback, says LTA head of men's tennis in the first of his daily verdicts
IT was a pretty good day in the end.
The results which went against the Brits today were not a shock.
Kyle Edmund, 21, will be disappointed after Adrian Mannarino won because it is another Wimbledon where he has not managed to get going.
Alex Ward against David Goffin — look, it’s an experience for him, ranked 240 in the world against one of the form players in the world.
Brydan Klein put up a good show against Nicolas Mahut, who you would expect to go through on grass.
Elina Svitolina was the hot favourite to win against Naomi Broady and did.
Laura Robson against Aussie Open champ Angelique Kerber went to form as well.
James Ward deserves credit. He was 9-0 down but he fought back hard against Novak Djokovic and made it a great occasion.
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Dan Evans beating Jan-Lennard Struff was fab. He fought really hard against a guy serving absolute cannons.
As for Marcus Willis, it’s unbelievable — semi-retired, coaching a bit, but comes through pre-qualifiers, qualifiers and wins a round here.
Now there’s a match on one of the big courts against Roger Federer. Astonishing.
WATCH out for Grigor Dimitrov, who just gets the nod over Kei Nishikori.
Nishikori, who always seems to make progress without getting headlines, came through against the tough Sam Groth in straight sets.
It’s big for Dimitrov to get a win on the board, straight sets over 22-year-old American Bjorn Fratangelo.
The Bulgarian can be dangerous and will have good memories here from 2014 when he beat Andy Murray and made the semis.
If he is going to pick up some momentum, it will be on the grass here, a surface that suits him a lot.
World in my eyes: IT was a very busy day, with six British male players playing. I tried to jump around.
I began on Kyle Edmund’s court and saw the first two sets.
Went to James Ward’s match and got there after the first three games, so that was OK.
From there I went straight to Alex Ward against David Goffin and from there to Evo’s match.
I took a banana, a peach and an apple, and that’s it. I was probably caught on camera eating it during Evo’s knock-up.
Shock: RUSSIAN Ekaterina Alexandrova saved match points against Brit Harriet Dart in the last round of qualifying and then came out and beat former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.
Shot: JAMES WARD’S running pick-up from a Novak Djokovic drop-shot, a cross-court flick, was brilliant. It got the whole crowd going.
Talk of the courts: THE best thing about the first day of Wimbledon is that there are just so many matches that all you can talk about is the tennis. I haven’t even been asked about Brexit.