Former champions Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Petra Kvitova and Venus Williams headline Monday's schedule for the opening day of play at Wimbledon.
Murray will have the honor of playing the first match on Centre Court as last year's men's champion. He beat Djokovic in the final to become the first British men's winner since Fred Perry in 1936 and will open defense of that title as the third seed against Belgium's David Goffin.
Djokovic, the 2011 winner and this year's top seed, is slated for the last match on Centre Court. The Serb, coming off a loss to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final, will square off against Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev.
Other top men's seeds in action Monday include Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The sixth-seeded Berdych, who was the runner-up in 2010, will meet Romania's Victor Hanescu, while the seventh-seeded Ferrer will take on fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. Tsonga, the 14th seed and a two-time Wimbledon semifinalist, will face Austrian veteran Jurgen Melzer.
Kvitova, the 2011 women's champ and a quarterfinalist each of the last two years, is seeded sixth this year. She will open against fellow Czech Andrea Hlavackova.
Williams, a five-time winner at the All England Club, is seeded 30th this year. She didn't play last year and was a first-round loser in 2012. The American will meet Spain's Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor on Monday.
Other seeded women on schedule for the first day on the famed lawns include Li Na, Agnieszka Radwanska, Victoria Azarenka and Dominika Cibulkova.
Li, the reigning Australian Open champion, is coming off a first-round ouster at the French Open and is seeded second for the fortnight. She'll battle Paula Kania of Poland on Centre Court.
The fourth-seeded Radwanska, runner-up to Serena Williams in 2012, will meet Romania's Andreea Mitu and the eighth-seeded Azarenka will tangle with Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. The 10th-seeded Cibulkova, runner-up at this year's Australian Open, will play Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak.
[SportsNetwork.com]
