By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday June 30, 2019

The grass is ready (and immaculate), the players are ready (and fired up) and the fans are going crazy. That’s because it’s nearly Day 1 of Wimbledon. Here’s what we’ll be watching on Day 1 at SW19…

Generational Battle

You couldn’t dream up a better matchup than what’s on tap for the third match on No.1 Court. 15-year-old Coco Gauff, the youngest qualifier in Wimbledon’s Open Era history against five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams promises to be an entertaining battle between a promising talent and a legend who can still be a menacing force on her beloved Wimbledon grass.

The world will be watching to see what the kid can muster up against the legend, and by “the world,” we’re including seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena, who compared Gauff to her big sister in press on Saturday.

“It's interesting,” she said. “Because Cori is such an exciting young player. She's so cool. She's a great girl. I love her dad. There just really cool people.

“It's a great moment for her and for Venus. It's going to be a big moment for Venus, as well. She's playing against a player that actually reminds me of Venus … her body and everything.

“So I know that they both want to win obviously and go to the next round. I think it will be really important for both of them.”

Novak Faces and Early Challenge

We learned on Sunday that Novak Djokovic has hired Wimbledon legend to be a part of his coaching team, and the Croatian was at practice with the defending champion on Sunday. We wonder: what advice did he have that might help Djokovic ease past the tricky German?

Kohlschreiber owns two career wins over Djokovic, the last coming just this season at Indian Wells, the first coming at Roland Garros in 2009. Can the 35-year-old German possibly ruffle the feathers of Djokovic again at Wimbledon, where he owns a 13-14 lifetime record and has only been past the first round twice in his last six appearances?

We’ll believe it when we see it.

(If you’re scoring at home, Lleyton Hewitt was the only men’s singles top seed to lose in the first round at Wimbledon, in 2003)



Pliskova and Osaka Get it Started

We’ll be keeping close tabs on Karolina Pliskova and Naomi Osaka in the bottom half of the women’s draw. Pliskova is fresh off the Eastbourne title and reached the second week at Wimbledon for the first time last year. She’ll face China’s Zhu Lin in round one.

Osaka has reached the third round in each of her last two appearances and will look to take it a few steps further in 2019. She’ll face the uber feisty Yulia Putintseva, a player that defeated Osaka just two weeks ago in Birmingham.

The bottom half of the draw presents an opportunity for many players, with so many of the top title threats tucked into the MEGADEATH top half, which includes nine former Grand Slam champions.

Grass Clippings

Jelena Ostapenko was a semi-finalist last year. Hsieh Su-Wei made the second week. Something will have to give on Monday when the pair collided on Court 18. Hsieh won the pair’s only previous meeting, at the Aussie Open in 2016. … Stefanos Tsitsipas made the round of 16 for the first time at Wimbledon in 2018. The player he beat to get there? Thomas Fabbiano of Italy. The pair will meet on No.2 Court on Monday… Is Alexander on upset alert on Day 1 against Jiri Vesely? We think so. Wimbledon is Vesely’s best Slam and he has made the second week in two of his last three appearances. Vesely has had a troubling season (4-6 main draw) but came through qualifying without dropping a set. …



Because...

Dayana Yastremska v Camila Giorgi, because it could be a ball-bashing clinic.
Mischa Zverev v Steve Darcis, because Mischa is going to serve-and-volley all day long.
Felix Auger-Aliassime v Vasek Pospisil because Felix has never won a match at a major and how can that be?
Victoria Azarenka v Alizé Cornet, because Vika finally has a decent draw.
Simona Halep v Aliaksandra Sasnovich, because you never know…
Alexei Popyrin v Pablo Carreno Busta, because the young Aussie has mega talent and PCB is 0-4 lifetime at Wimbledon.
Ugo Humbert v Gael Monfils, because Humbert is making his Wimbledon debut and Gael is Gael.

Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty