DIn her relatively short time as a professional tennis player, Emma Raducanu has never seen Wimbledon without chaos. On her 2021 debut, after spending the previous months away from the sport to focus on her final exams, she reached the fourth round before dramatically withdrawing from the game due to breathing difficulties. The following year she injured her ankle early in her opening match on grass at the Nottingham Open and was barely ready in time. She didn’t even make it to the starting blocks last year.

For once, everything seems calm in the world of Raducan. After months of consistent training, he returns to his third Wimbledon, with more and more matches under his belt, and in fact he also wins. She reached the semi-finals in Nottingham and the quarter-finals in Eastbourne, where she achieved her first victory over a top-10 player, beating world No. 5 Jessica Pegula. As she finishes preparing for SW19, Raducanu says she is the most settled she has been in a while.

“I feel much better this year,” she said. “There’s a lot less going on. There is much less stress and chaos. It’s more just coming here, training and playing the match. As if there was nothing different about it, while in 2022 I was in such a hurry. Would I be able to play? Or not? And then last year I obviously missed it, and in 2021 I lost on the Brit Tour just like the month before, so I didn’t feel amazing. So I think this is the most peaceful period I’ve been in for a while.”

That preparation will be essential when she returns to Centre Court on Monday for a tough first-round match against Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 22nd seed. The Russian may be ranked lower than most in her rankings, but she is a formidable talent who has established herself as a seed at major tournaments, and her flat-ball strokes are best suited to grass courts. Alexandrova is also one of only four players to beat Iga Świątek this year to become the world No. 1 seed at the Miami Open.

There could be no greater contrast between the calm surrounding Britain’s newest Grand Slam champion and the chaos surrounding the newest men’s champion from these shores. Andy Murray continues to do everything he can to be fit for his final Wimbledon, and will make a decision on his participation in Tuesday’s first-round match against Tomas Machac at the latest possible date.

“Of course, it’s been about 10 days since Queen’s (Club),” he said during a news conference on Sunday. “Of course, I had back surgery, which was not insignificant. I was just trying to do everything I could to get ready for the tournament to start here. I don’t know if it’s enough. I’ve been practicing the last few days. I played a set today. It went pretty well, but I still don’t have 100 percent feeling and sensation in my leg.”

Murray underwent surgery last Saturday after withdrawing from his second-round match with Jordan Thompson at Queen’s Club when he had difficulty even walking. The injury was eventually identified as a spinal cyst. Some of the advice he received was that he would be out for six to 12 weeks and would have no chance of making it to Wimbledon.

Quick tip

Wimbledon 2024: Monday’s fixtures

To show

Centre Court (start 1:30 p.m.)

(3) C Alcaraz (Sp) v M Lajal (Est)

(22) E Aleksandrova (Russia) v E Raducanu (Great Britain)

C Dolehide (USA) v C Gauff (USA) (2)

Court No. 1 (starting at 1:00 p.m.)

A Kovacevic (USA) v D Medvedev (Russia) (5)

E Bektas (USA) v A Sabalenka (Blr) (3)

(1) J Sinner (Italy) v Y Hanfmann (Germany)

Court No. 2 (starts at 11:00)

(10) G Dimitrov (Bul) v D Lajovic (Srb)

S Wawrinka (Sui) v C Broom (GB)

N Osaka (Jpn) v D Parry (Fr)

V Azarenka (Blr) v S Stephens (USA)

Court No. 3 (starting at 11:00)

A Bolt (Aus) v C Ruud (Norway) (8)

(7) J Paolina (It) v S Sorribes Tormo (Sp)

M Trevisan (Italy) v M Keys (USA) (12)

(12) T Paul (USA) v P Martínez (Sp)

Photo: James Marsh/Rex Features

Throughout his career, the 37-year-old has spent time defying negative predictions and opinions, and this is no exception. In his own words, he seems to have made remarkable progress in a week and feels like he is improving every day.

“If I keep progressing like I have over the next three or four days before the doubles starts, then… I played a set against a good player today. I played well,” Murray said. “Hit the ball well. It did absolutely fine. I hope that with each passing day the likelihood of me being able to play increases. I can’t say because like I said, I also want to go out there and be able to play at a level that I’m happy with.

“I don’t want to be in a situation like I was at Queen’s. I don’t want to go on the court and feel awkward or not be able to at least compete.” For now, Murray’s biggest opponent is time.

Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz, the third seed and defending champion, will start on Centre Court with a seemingly comfortable first-round draw against Mark Lajal, the Estonian qualifier ranked 262nd.

Much of the focus will be on Aryna Sabalenka, the women’s third seed, who would have been a tournament favorite but enters the event struggling with a shoulder injury and who admitted to playing minimal serve. Meanwhile, a year after losing in the first round, Coco Gauff returns to Center Court as the U.S. Open champion and the No. 2 seed.

Victoria Azarenka and Sloane Stephens once fought for a place in the final of the 2013 Australian Open. It was an extremely controversial and dramatic match, but this time both Grand Slam champions will fight in the first round.

By the end of day one, one of the most exciting potential first-round matches of the tournament could become a reality as Jannik Sinner, the top seed, and Matteo Berrettini, a 2021 Wimbledon finalist and one of the best grass-court players of his generation, will face off in the second-round match round in which the two best Italian players of the last few decades will face each other.