Djokovic, Tsitsipas Headline Day 1 At Wimbledon

In keeping with tradition at The All England Club, defending champion Novak Djokovic will contest the first Centre Court match on Day 1 of The Championships. The four-time Wimbledon champion will meet Philipp Kohlschreiber for the fourth time this year as he begins his title defence.

Djokovic owns a 10-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against Kohlschreiber. But the German veteran has proven a tricky opponent for the top seed this year, defeating the World No. 1 at the BNP Paribas Open and pushing him to three sets at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. So Djokovic’s focus is set squarely on his opener, not on the journey to another title.

“In order to win straight-set matches against, for example, Kohlschreiber, my first-round opponent, a very good, quality tennis player on grass, or any surface for that matter — he won against me earlier this year in Indian Wells — you need the right intensity,” Djokovic said. “You need to kind of be in the moment, focus only on the next challenge.”

This is Djokovic’s first tournament since Roland Garros, where he lost in the semi-finals against Dominic Thiem. He is aiming to improve on his 14-0 record in first-round matches at Wimbledon, the World No. 1 has not lost in the first round at a Grand Slam since the 2006 Australian Open (l. to Goldstein).

Another leading contender, #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, enters Wimbledon with more tour-level victories than any player this year. The World No. 6 will look to become the first man to notch 35 wins this season (34-14) when he faces Thomas Fabbiano of Italy, whom he defeated in the third round at SW19 last year, on No. 2 Court.

Tsitsipas, who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon as a junior, and also won the boys’ doubles title, is competing in the main draw at The All England Club for the third time. Last year, he advanced to the fourth round, falling to eventual semi-finalist John Isner.

Last year’s finalist, Kevin Anderson, opens play on No. 3 Court against Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Anderson will hope to improve on his 18-10 record at Wimbledon when he meets the Frenchman, a NOVENTI OPEN semi-finalist.

The South African enters the grass-court Grand Slam championship with a 9-3 tour-level record this year, having missed almost three months of the season due to a right elbow injury. In his first appearance since the Miami Open presented by Itau in March, Anderson fell to a second-round defeat against Gilles Simon at the Fever-Tree Championships.

Reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev will open his campaign for a first Grand Slam crown against Jiri Vesely. The German has reached the third round or better in each of his three most recent visits to The All England Club.

Other notable matches on Monday include British No. 1 Kyle Edmund's Centre Court meeting with Jaume Munar and the all-French encounter between 16th seed Gael Monfils and #NextGenATP talent Ugo Humbert on No. 3 Court.

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* Tsitsipas, Felix Lead Contenders & Darkhorses

ORDER OF PLAY – MONDAY, 1 JULY 2019
Centre Court start 13:00
[1] Novak Djokovic vs Philipp Kohlschreiber
WTA match
[30] Kyle Edmund vs Jaume Munar

No. 1 Court start 13:00
WTA match
[Q] Jiri Vesely vs [6] Alexander Zverev
WTA match

No. 2 Court start 11:00
[22] Stan Wawrinka vs [Q] Ruben Bemelmans
WTA match
Thomas Fabbiano vs [7] Stefanos Tsitsipas
WTA match

No. 3 Court start 11:00
[4] Kevin Anderson vs Pierre-Hugues Herbert
WTA match
WTA match
Ugo Humbert vs [16] Gael Monfils

Court 12 start 11:00
WTA match
[19] Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Vasek Pospisil
Prajnesh Gunneswaran vs [15] Milos Raonic
WTA match

Court 18 start 11:00
WTA match
[10] Karen Khachanov vs [Q] Soonwoo Kwon
[11] Daniil Medvedev vs Paolo Lorenzi
WTA match

Court 4 start 11:00
Peter Gojowczyk vs [23] Roberto Bautista Agut
WTA match
WTA match
Lorenzo Sonego vs [Q] Marcel Granollers

Court 6 start 11:00
WTA match
WTA match
Hubert Hurkacz vs [32] Dusan Lajovic
Roberto Carballes Baena vs Miomir Kecmanovic

Court 7 start 11:00
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe vs Reilly Opelka
WTA match
[Q] Andrea Arnaboldi vs Ivo Karlovic
WTA match

Court 8 start 11:00
WTA match
Ernests Gulbis vs Leonardo Mayer
Pablo Carreno Busta vs [Q] Alexei Popyrin

Court 9 start 11:00
WTA match
Steve Darcis vs Mischa Zverev
WTA match
Jeremy Chardy vs Martin Klizan

Court 10 start 11:00
WTA match
Denis Kudla vs Malek Jaziri
WTA match
WTA match

Court 11 start 11:00
[Q] Marcos Giron vs [WC] Feliciano Lopez
WTA match
Pablo Cuevas vs Damir Dzumhur

Court 14 start 11:00
WTA match
WTA match
Jozef Kovalik vs Robin Haase
[28] Benoit Paire vs Juan Ignacio Londero

Court 15 start 11:00
Janko Tipsarevic vs Yoshihito Nishioka
WTA match
Grigor Dimitrov vs [Q] Corentin Moutet
WTA match

Court 16 start 11:00
WTA match
Andreas Seppi vs Nicolas Jarry
[Q] Kamil Majchrzak vs Fernando Verdasco
WTA match

Court 17 start 11:00
WTA match
WTA match
Marius Copil vs [26] Guido Pella
Not Before 17:30
Bradley Klahn vs [21] David Goffin

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