Key events
“The grass looks simply amazing and people dressed as strawberries are daft but endearing,” emails Carrie Ilbrey. “So looking forward to the next two weeks.”
Another Brit wildcard, the 5ft3in Sonay Kartal, has had a tough start against the formidable Jelena Ostapenko on Court No 3. The former French Open champion had raced into a 3-0 lead in the first set but Kartal slowly clawed her way back into the match. Kartal held serve and now has two break points to get things back to 3-2, on serve but blows a forehand return wide and sends another forehand just wide to allow Ostapenko to get back to deuce. From there, the Latvian holds. A chance missed for the Brit, alas.
Out on Court 4, the lowest-ranked player in the men’s draw is 21-year‑old British qualifier Oliver Tarvet, who is currently on serve in the first set against Leandro Riedi.
As mentioned in Tumaini Carayol’s piece on Sunday, the No 719 in the world spends most of his time playing tennis in college for the University of San Diego, something that has had a direct effect on the prize money he can claim. Players that qualify for the first round normally bag £66,000 but college rules in the US mean that under NCAA rules, players are restricted in how much they can claim from professional tournaments. On Friday, Tarvet explained players are allowed $10,000 (£7,290) in profit every year, as well as any expenses incurred during the events.
“I know there have been complaints about it but I don’t want to speak too much about it and overstep the mark,” he told the BBC. “But in my opinion, I’ve worked hard to get this money. I don’t feel like it’s undeserved the money that I’ve got. I think it would be good to see a change in the rules of the NCAA, but at the same time, I don’t want to get involved. It’s not really my place. But I’ve done well this week. I think I deserve this money.”
Wimbledon is officially underway!
Play has begun on the outer courts!
This wouldn’t be a Wimbledon liveblog without us mentioning the weather. Today’s weather is … scorchio! That’s bad news for the planet and bad news for the players.
The latest heatwave is expected to push temperatures close to record levels for June and result in the hottest ever start to Wimbledon.
Amber heat alerts remain in place until Tuesday evening for all of southern, western and eastern England with a warning of excess deaths particularly among those over 65, and increased demand on health and social care services.
Meanwhile, the London fire brigade has highlighted a “severe” risk of wildfires.
After the temperature rose to more than 30C (86F) in parts of southern England this weekend, it is forecast to hit 34C on Monday. This would make it the hottest day of the year so far, and just short of the UK’s record temperature for June of 35.6C, recorded in Southampton in 1976.
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Here’s what some of the favourites in the women’s and men’s draw have had to say for themselves in the lead up to the tournament.
Wimbledon and Glastonbury are two English institutions on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum, yet they do share some similarities. I wonder if anyone has travelled from Worthy Farm directly to the queue at SW19. Hopefully they have had a shower.
Let’s play a game. It’s a simple one, where you guess whether the image is from Glastonbury or Wimbledon. Answers to come a little later, if they are not too obvious. Get yours in to michael.butler@theguardian.com.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
To get you in the mood before the action starts, why not have a read of some preview content.
First, Simon Cambers on Emma Raducanu, who admitted her first-round battle with the 17-year-old Welsh player Mimi Xu that “truthfully I don’t expect much from myself this year.”
Next, Tumaini Carayol on Carlos Alcaraz. At just 22, he is seeking to become only the fifth man in the open era to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles. He would also become the fourth man to win the French Open and Wimbledon back‑to-back on multiple occasions in the open era, after Rod Laver, Björn Borg and Rafael Nadal. Ooooof.
Preamble
Here we go again. The first day of Wimbledon is here. The sun is out, the grass is so green it looks like it has been dyed (for the first week at least), the strawberries are prepped, the hamstrings are stretched, the players’ white uniforms and patrons’ red trousers have each been perfectly ironed, the ballboys and ballgirls have been trained to within an inch of their lives and here I am, dressed like Luke Wilson in the Royal Tenenbaums (minus the magnificent beard and arm bandages), sitting in my front room, on the edge of my seat, ready to bring the latest updates from SW19.
The live action starts at 11am BST on the outer courts, with notable seeds Frances Tiafoe, Daniil Medvedev, Elina Svitolina, Jeļena Ostapenko among those first up in action against their lesser-ranked opponents. Others like this year’s Australian Open winner Madison Keys and British male Cameron Norrie are due to begin just after midday, while the show courts will start at 1pm/1.30pm. Carlos Alcaraz kicks things off on Centre Court against Italian veteran Fabio Fognini, which is a particularly tasty encounter. World No 1 Arnya Sabalenka, Emma Raducanu, Alexander Zverev, teenage upstart João Fonseca and American hopeful Taylor Fritz are all in action on a bumper opening day.
Here is an order of play, for your perusal.
Quick Guide
Wimbledon 2025: day one order of play
Show
Centre Court (1.30pm BST start)
F Fognini (It) v C Alcaraz (Sp, 2)
P Badosa (Sp, 9) v K Boulter (GB)
A Rinderknech (Fr) v A Zverev (Ger, 3)
No.1 Court (1pm BST start)
A Sabalenka (Blr, 1) v C Branstine (Can)
J Fearnley (GB) v J Fonseca (Bra)
E Raducanu (GB) v M Xu (GB)
No.2 Court (11am BST start)
B Bonzi (Fr) v D Medvedev (Rus, 9)
E Ruse (Rom) v M Keys (US, 6)
J Paolini (It, 4) v A Sevastova (Lat)
T Fritz (US, 5) v G Mpetshi-Perricard (Fr)
No.3 Court (11am BST start)
S Kartal (GB) v J Ostapenko (Lat, 20)
H Rune (Den, 8) v N Jarry (Chi)
M Berrettini (It, 32) v K Majchrzak (Pol)
K Siniakova (Cz) v Q Zheng (Chn, 5)
Court 12 (11am BST start)
E Moller (Den) v F Tiafoe (US, 12)
V Royer (Fr) v S Tsitsipas (Gr, 24)
L Fernandez (Can, 29) v H Klugman (GB)
M Vondrousova (Cz) v M Kessler (US, 32)
Court 18
A Bondar (Hun) v E Svitolina (Ukr, 14)
C Norrie (GB) v R Bautista Agut (Sp)
M McDonald (US) v K Khachanov (Rus, 17)
N Osaka (Jpn) v T Gibson (Aus)
Do get in touch with me today with your thoughts, predictions, musings or reflections: michael.butler@theguardian.com.
