Carlos Alcaraz defeated 269th-ranked qualifier Mark Lajal at the start of his Wimbledon title defence on Monday as Andy Murray decided whether or not to call a halt to his All England Club singles career. As action got under way, Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka was heading home after withdrawing from the tournament with a shoulder injury. Alcaraz, still only 21, is chasing his fourth Grand Slam title and hopes to become just the sixth man after Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back.
Opening the Centre Court programme, the Spanish star recovered from a break down in each of the first two sets to see off the dreadlocked Lajal 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 6-2.
“He played a really good match, he obviously surprised me a little bit because I didn’t have the chance to see him play a lot,” said Alcaraz.
This time last year, Lajal was losing a first-round match at a second-tier Challenger event in the United States and earning a paltry $780 — on Monday he banked $75,000.
Two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Sabalenka, ranked third in the world, is one of eight players to have pulled out since the draw was made.
She had admitted she was not 100 percent fit after suffering a shoulder injury at the Berlin Open and has been replaced by Russian lucky loser Erika Andreeva.
“Heartbroken to have to tell you all that I won’t be able to play The Championships this year,” wrote 26-year-old Sabalenka on X.
Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev reached the second round and admitted he was happy not to be playing on the All England Club’s famed Centre Court.
Medvedev, a semi-finalist last year, hit 16 aces in his 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Aleksandar Kovacevic of the United States.
“I’ve still never lost on Court One so hopefully I can play a lot more matches on this court,” said Medvedev.
“Last year I said it was unfortunate I had to go to Centre Court for the semis and I lost.”
Eighth seed Casper Ruud, who has never been past the second round, saw off Alex Bolt of Australia in straight sets and revealed he had been laid low by a parasite since reaching the French Open semi-finals.
“I was mostly in bed for 10, 11 days, which was not what I was kind of hoping for,” said the Norwegian.
Three-time Grand Slam title winner Stan Wawrinka won his Wimbledon opener at the age of 39, beating British wild card Charles Broom 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
“I think there is enough reason to keep playing. I don’t want to go home,” said Wawrinka, who made his debut at Wimbledon in 2005.
World number one Jannik Sinner, a semi-finalist in 2023, starts against Yannick Hanfmann, the German world number 110.
The 22-year-old Sinner won a maiden Slam at the Australian Open and then deposed Djokovic as world number one, becoming the first Italian man to reach such heights.
Sinner arrives in London having captured his first grass-court title in Halle.
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