By Chris Oddo | Sunday July 2, 2017

And away we go! The Wimbledon fortnight is set to begin in earnest with beaucoup big stars in action on Monday.

Here’s what we’ll be watching:

Azarenka and Kvitova return to Wimbledon

Petra Kvitova on grass is quite a sight, and this year the Czech’s Wimbledon will be extra special because of what she has gone through to get here. Attacked by knife-wielding burglar in her apartment last winter, Kvitova needed surgery to repair her left hand and it wasn’t known if she’d ever come back let along storm back in scintillating form. But that’s what she has done. After taking home the Birmingham title last week, Kvitova will set her sights on going after some wins at Wimbledon with no pressure weighing her down. She’ll face Sweden’s Johanna Larsson on Monday on Centre Court. Kvitova’s 4-0 against Larsson lifetime, and 2-0 at tour-level. If she’s feeling it, she should be able to breeze into round two.

Breezing into round two might be a tougher task for new mother Victoria Azarenka. The Belarussian will face CiCi Bellis in her Wimbledon return, which is just her second event since returning to the tour after giving birth to her first son, Leo. Bellis is a tough, feisty customer who could present problems for Azarenka for two reasons. One, Azarenka has not yet knocked the rust off of her typically sound game and, two, Bellis has proven to be a quick study on grass—she reached the semifinals of her first tour-level event on grass two weeks ago in Mallorca.

Lest we should forget, No.2-seeded Simona Halep (vs. Erakovic), No.4-seeded Elina Svitolina (vs. Barty) and No.6-seeded Johanna Konta (vs. Hsieh) are all in action on Day 1. We think Svitolina and Konta could struggle with tricky opponents, while Erakovic is a much better player than her 129 ranking on grass—she owns four Top 50 wins at Wimbledon—and could give Halep a fit or two.

Murray on Centre and Nadal on No.1

The top half is in action on the men’s side, which means that Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray will begin their quests for No.1 on Day 1. Murray faces the outgoing Sascha Bublik, a player that has only played six tour-level matches but did knock off Lucas Pouille at this year’s Australian Open. Bublik is only 20, but he’s comfortable in his own skin and will try to implement surprise tactics against the defending champion. According to the Daily Mail, Bublik is the “Rap-loving World No.134 who wants to control the tempo against Andy Murray.”

Snazzy headline, right? Will Bublik be as entertaining, or controlling as advertised against the two-time Wimbledon champ? We're thinking no.

Murray probably has other ideas, even as he’s been dealing with hip soreness in the lead-up to Wimbledon that took him off the practice courts for a few days. He says he’s fine now, and ready to play—and win—seven matches here in London. He’ll need to manage his time well on court and avoid those five-set cliffhangers that can really take a toll on the body to do it.

Nadal will face Aussie John Millman on No.1 Court. That court has a slightly different look to it this year as a new roof has been partially constructed around the outer bowl. Nadal and Millman are due on second after Venus Williams and Elise Mertens, so this match should be played not too long after high noon.

Millman has played one tour-level match this season, a four-set loss to Roberto Bautista Agut at Roland Garros, and he’s probably already had enough at Spaniards at the Slams.

It should be an easy win for Nadal, who has been in great form, unless somehow the grass makes him slip and sneeze and lose his form—something that we’ve seen a lot in recent years. He is being tabbed as one of the favorites, and he has a very good shot to finish the fortnight at No.1 with a strong performance at SW19, but Nadal’s been a .500 player at Wimbledon since reaching the 2011 final, winning five and losing five.

Other matches to watch:

Ah, there are literally too many, so we’ll narrow it down to five and let you decide on which to tune into.

Jelena Ostapenko vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 4th on No.3 Court (if only to see Ostapenko play her first Grand Slam match since taking the Roland Garros title).
Nick Kyrgios vs. Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 1st match No.3 court (if only to see how well Kyrgios performs on a bum hip).
Karen Khachanov vs. Andrey Kuznetsov, 1st match Court No.5 (to see if Khachanov is as good as we think he is on grass).
Alizé Cornet vs. Camila Giorgi, 1st Match Court No.8 (because something crazy is bound to happen).
Jerzy Janowicz vs. Denis Shapovalov, 1st Match, Court No.7 (also for craziness).

Other players in action

The wildly entertaining grass guru otherwise known as Dustin Brown… Ana Konjuh vs. Sabine Lisicki, which could be a classic encounter… The all-court genius we'll simply refer to as Barbora Strycova… Madison Keys, fresh off a second wrist surgery… Kei Nishikori… Stan Wawrinka vs. Daniil Medvedev, which could be tricky for Wawrinka.

That’s all we have for now. Enjoy Day 1 and stay tuned throughout the fortnight for our daily previews. Cheerio!