Yesterday at SW19 again saw crowds flock to see the world’s most recognised tennis faces.
And it did not disappoint.
Contrasting comebacks for the sport’s stars
Two-time champion Rafa Nadal was playing at Wimbledon for the first time in three years.
And the Spaniard showed some majestic touches on his return to the surface.
He stormed into two sets to love lead against Argentina’s Francisco Cerúndolo, 6-4, 6-3.
But the Argentine fought back to take the third 6-3.
The crowd sensing an upset on the cards where cheering every time Nadal staved off some dangerous moments.
In particular, midway through the fourth as Cerúndolo was up 4-3 and had a sniff on the Spanish legend’s serve.
But he came through and went onto break the 23-year-old from Buenos Aires, and made no mistake in serving for the match.
6-4 in the fourth as the 22-time Grand Slam champion breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The win keeps alive his hopes of winning an unprecedented calendar Grand Slam after taking the Australian and French Open titles.
Meanwhile, for Serena Williams it wasn’t to be a fairytale comeback after a year away from the sport.
But she did play very well against an inspired Harmony Tan.
A nervous start saw the American surrender her serve.
She then come back to lead in the opening set before losing it 7-5.
We then witnessed the Serena of old as she dominated the Frenchwoman to take it 6-1.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion then came out of the blocks fast in the third, forging a 3-1 lead.
But she was pegged back by the plucky Tan and it took some vintage Serena to seize the break, meaning the 40-year-old would serve for the match.
Some loose serves cost her the game and Serena was forced to save a match point as a final set tie-break was the only way to separate the two.
The tennis icon zoomed into a 4-0 lead and looked the likely winner but Tan again fought back with some sublime shots of her own.
In her first match on Centre Court and with such little Grand Slam pedigree, Tan continued to relish the big stage as she saw off some nerves to take the breaker 10-7 and the biggest win of her career.
This was arguably the match of the tournament so far.
Serena can hold her head up high as it was a strong performance and a couple of points here or there and we would have been talking about a stunning win.
Another good day for the Brits
More Brits are through to round two!
Jack Draper continued his impressive form as he saw off Zizou Bergs in straight sets.
The Belgian going down 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
And Ryan Peniston, fresh from making the quarter-finals of Queen’s is also through.
He saw off Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen comfortably 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Katie Boulter beat Frenchwoman Clara Burel 7-5, 6-3.
And Heather Watson beat Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch 6-7 (7-9, 7-5, 6-2.
But British number two Dan Evans was left stunned after he lost to Australia’s Jason Kubler in straight sets 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
Iga breaks Venus’ record
One stat that seemed to fly under the radar with Rafa and Serena taking all the headlines was Poland’s Iga Świątek breaking Venus Williams 35-match unbeaten run.
The pole extended her own streak to 36 with a convincing performance against Croatia’s Jana Fett.
The world number one opening Centre Court in style 6-0, 6-3.
There were also wins for 2019 champion Simona Halep, fifth seed Maria Sakkari, Paula Badosa, Coco Gauff and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Grigor exits along with Sloane Stephens
Former semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov was forced to pull out injured after being a set up and 5-2 down in the second set against American Steve Johnson.
Whilst, former US Open champion Sloane Stephens slumped to China’s Qinwen Zheng 7-6 (7-1), 7-5.
And the oldest man in the draw, Feliciano Lopez who in doing so, equalled Roger Federer’s record of 81 main draw appearances at Grand Slams.
But the Spaniard lost in straight sets to Botic van de Zandschulp.