Wimbledon LIVE: Tennis scores and updates as Raducanu and Alcaraz return today

In his Wimbledon campaign last year, there were plenty of positives for the 22-year-old: He had reached the final four of a major for the first time, and there was no shame in losing to a king of Centre Court, no less with a display of great promise – despite the straight-sets scoreline. But where last year there was promise, this year there is pressure.

Such are expectations midway through the most successful year of Sinner’s career. January brought his first slam, as he showed steep progress with a banishing of Djokovic in the semi-finals. If the Serb is a king of Centre Court, he is a deity Down Under, yet Sinner was a non-believer that day. But a final against Daniil Medvedev required enormous reserves of belief, and Sinner plundered them to fight back from two sets down, claiming the trophy.

It’s been two years since Emma Raducanu – 2021’s breakthrough British sporting star – strode out onto the Wimbledon stage with the weight of an expectant crowd on her shoulders. Back then, she was impacted by a side strain and was outplayed in the second round. Last year, she spent her SW19 fortnight away from the courts, entertaining guests in the hospitality areas in a role she insisted pre-tournament “really stung”. Yet after 24 months of setbacks and surgeries, the 21-year-old was back on the pristine grass of the All England Club.

Drawn to face 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, her second-match Centre Court billing promised to be a genuine litmus test of where her game is right now. Yet a late withdrawal from the Russian due to illness handed the wild card a lucky loser in the form of Mexico’s Renata Zarazua. On paper, it seemed a gift from the tennis gods as she eyed a smooth progression to round two.

But the reality was quite the opposite: this was no cakewalk. Under the gloomy skies of southwest London, Raducanu misfired and miscued. One minute she found her rhythm, the next she lost it. The ebbs and flows were continuous; however, ultimately, Raducanu staggered through an awkward test of nerve, perseverance and 30 unforced errors in straight sets, 7-6(0), 6-3.

Take a look at her now: a year on from the first-round defeat at Wimbledon that left Coco Gauff in a “dark place”, the American is marching on and looking like a potential champion too after a statement opening victory over her compatriot Caroline Dolehide.

Five years on from her breakthrough at Wimbledon as a 15-year-old, Gauff took top billing on Centre Court and played like a contender for the title, demolishing her friend Dolehide 6-1 6-2 in just 64 minutes.

This was a victory that was never in doubt after Gauff broke her opponent in the opening game of the match. The 20-year-old didn’t look back, bringing a calm assurance and confidence that allowed her powerful and aggressive game to flourish against her mismatched opponent, ranked 51st in the world. “I was trying to have fun and enjoy it,” she said after an emotional win and cleansing night.

veryone seems to agree this is how Andy Murray should retire from tennis. The countdown is on, and after yet another bout of surgery, no one was expecting him to hang around long against men more than 15 years younger than him for much longer, but there was hope of one more characteristically monumental five-set recovery victory before he finally succumbs to chronology

Those hopes were dashed on Tuesday when a statement from the 37-year-old’s team read: ‘Unfortunately, despite working incredibly hard on his recovery since his operation just over a week ago, Andy has taken the very difficult decision not to play the singles this year.

‘As you can imagine, he is extremely disappointed but has confirmed that he will be playing in the doubles with Jamie and looks forward to competing at Wimbledon for the last time.’

Andy Murray’s painful decision to call time on his Wimbledon singles career brings an outstanding era in British sport to a sad end.

The Scot finally gave in to what, in truth, his body has been telling him for years on Tuesday morning when his team announced his withdrawal from what would have been one final All England Club appearance as a singles player.

Murray, ever the competitor but never the most decisive of people, had left the decision until the last possible minute having attempted a miraculous comeback from undergoing back surgery just 10 days earlier.

All eyes are usually on Novak Djokovic when he steps on to Centre Court at Wimbledon but this time, they were trained on one specific body part – his right knee.

His attention would surely turn instead to the Olympic Games and finally achieving the one major accomplishment that has eluded him throughout his storied career – winning Olympic gold for his country. By focussing on Paris 2024, he would avoid not only a potentially damaging race to be fit but also a risky surface-switch merry-go-round from Roland Garros clay to Wimbledon grass back to Roland Garros clay that would test any 37-year-old body, let alone one with a newly surgically-repaired right knee.

Cameron Norrie set aside recent grass-court struggles to ease into the second round of Wimbledon with a straight-sets success over tournament debutant Facundo Diaz Acosta.

The unseeded 28-year-old entered Court Three seeking to rediscover the form which brought a run to the semi-finals at the All England Club in 2022.

He answered his critics following first-round exits at Queen’s and Eastbourne – on the back of suffering a similar fate at the French Open – with a 7-5 7-5 6-3 win which sets up a round-two showdown with British number one Jack Draper.

Vondrousova was a surprise winner at the All England Club last year and returned to Centre Court on Tuesday to begin the defence of her crown, but struggled physically as she tasted 6-4 6-2 defeat inside 67 minutes.

It made Vondrousova only the second defending women’s Wimbledon champion to crash out in the first round after Graf did in 1994 to Lori McNeil.

“Obviously, very sad news for the tournament and for the tennis world to hear that he withdrew from the singles event here in Wimbledon,” said the Serbian.

“Hopefully he can get another shot at next year’s Wimbledon with singles. Knowing him, he’s going to try to do that.

“Just incredible resilience throughout all his career. Multiple grand slam winner. Legend of the game. Number one in the world. Going to play the Challenger circuit to build his rankings on clay, his least favourite surface, says a lot about his character.

“Just a huge inspiration to all the players. Doesn’t mind getting out on the court for hours every day. Incredible professional. Just his approach is something to study, no doubt.

“His will to push and see how far he can go, even with an artificial hip, is something that is just inspiring but also serves as a great example, I think, to a lot of the athletes, younger ones, that start to complain about this and that.”

British wild card Jacob Fearnley will embrace the special experience of playing Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon after his straight-sets victory over Alejandro Moro Canas set up a second-round tie with the 24-time grand slam champion.

Fearnley only finished his five-year stint at Texas Christian University (TCU) in May and was ranked outside the top 500 until he won an ATP Challenger event in Nottingham as a qualifier last month.

It helped earn the 22-year-old from Scotland a wild card for this year’s Championships and despite being distracted by Djokovic’s score on a screen outside Centre Court, he marked his debut at the All England Club with a 7-5 6-4 7-6 (12) victory on a buoyant Court Eight.