Gerry Williams says Laura Robson is a star in the making after her display against Daniela Hantuchova.
Williams excited by the prospect of two British stars
With my Union Jack hat perched on my head there was only one question on my mind on day one; have we really got not just one, but two young players that are now competing with genuine hope on the world stage? In other words is Laura Robson the real deal?
Laura, who was born in Australia but now only lives a couple of lobs away from the All England Club, famously won the international U-18's event here at Wimbledon a year ago.
Yesterday, having been given a wild card on the strength of that, she walked out onto the new stylishly sunken bowl of Court Two to face Daniela Hantuchova - once a quarter-finalist here.
At 15 years and 152 days old, Robson became the youngest competitor in the main draw since Martina Hingis in 1995. Hantuchova is not quite at her peak and she seemed a bit uncertain of how the English youngster would play.
The way Laura Robson began with an ace and the furiousness of her hitting (wristy topspin forehands, testing backhands, snappy serves) further uneased Hantuchova and the Slovakian lost her first set.
The sight of her former coach Nigel Sears (now the LTA's main man for women's tennis) might have added to her early confusion. From then on in the match Robson, who has only just taken her GCSE exams, took the correct turns at most of the major crossroads, but gradually from being a set down Hantuchova looked as if she was beginning to understand the English gatecrasher's game and the balance of the match tilted.
Hantuchova's experience and tenacity took her through to the second round 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
So what about our new wonder girl? My own view is that Britain does indeed now have a second young player of substance. She clearly feels that she is competing amongst equals and she is - even if next week she will be back defending her junior title here.
Upset
The earliest upset was the defeat of the articulate American, James Blake, who had played Murray in the final of Queens Club and who was seeded 17th here.
He lost to the 6ft 3inches tall Italian Andreas Seppi at a time when Italy's women are gaining them the most success in tennis. Afterwards Blake made a mannerly plea for more time off for the players on the men's tour.
One of the players' favourite phrases 'hanging in there' was certainly true of the Slovakian Karol Beck's match against the 21st seed Feliciano Lopez. The Spanish left-hander has a smashing serve and it was a weapon that dominated the start of their long tussle.
Lopez took the first set 6-1, but Beck hung in so well that he beat the seed 10-8 in the fifth set. Not bad for someone who had lost in the qualifying tournament but was given a 'lucky loser' spot in the main draw after somebody withdrew.
It was good to see the Russian cover girl, Maria Sharapova back again after her shoulder aches and pains and sounding afterwards, by the way, completely American now.
She has though been comfortably out-screeched this year by a Portuguese 16-year-old called, Michelle Larcher de Brito, who yesterday appeared on court 17 and won.
Although she denied it I can promise you that she did indeed receive a word in her ear about the decibel disease and seemed at least to tone it down a bit.
We all need to know the rules here. If the opponent lost a point and objected to the umpire that the noise had put her off, the official has the mandate to award that point to the victim of the noise abuse.
Underestimate
Anyway, Tuesday is all about Andy Murray. He plays the Californian Robert Kendrick on Centre Court. Kendrick is ranked 76 places lower than Murray, but is a player who I think in the main people are underestimating.
The American has a big serve and in 2006 on the same court he fired 32 aces and had a two set lead against Rafael Nadal, which should give a bit more substance to his reputation.
Having said that, Andy Murray does play well against serve and volley as he showed against Andy Roddick earlier in his career, but I just thought I'd take a kindly jab at our Murray mania.
