Wimbledon’s daily Order of Play can seem more like chaos, with dozens of matches taking place around the grounds. Each day during The Championships, we’ll write about three must-see matchups.
Kei Nishikori vs. Rafael Nadal [2] (Centre Court, second match)
Opening-day drama at the majors is usually reserved for the women's draw, but Monday saw many of the top men seriously tested. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko all needed five sets to advance, while Marin Cilic was dusted in straights by Florian Mayer. With that in mind, who's to say Nadal can't run into trouble against Nishikori, a potentially dangerous unseeded player? The Japanese No. 1, who returned to the tour from injury in February, won two consecutive Challenger events in May and fared well at Eastbourne, winning three qualifying matches. He possesses a fine forehand, although that shot and every other one in his arsenal will need to be at their peak in order to threaten Nadal. As for Rafa, his last match at Wimbledon was the greatest of all time. Wonder what he'll do for an encore? The Pick: Nadal in three
Dominika Cibulkova vs. Lucie Safarova [25] (Court 6, third match)
This tussle doesn't look like it belongs in the first round, but Cibulkova lost a substantial amount of ranking points after not defending her semifinal points at Roland Garros and is now ranked outside the Top 32. Clay is her best surface, but she reached the third round here last year, a career-best showing. She'll challenge Safarova, a hot-and-cold player who's recently shown improved form—much like her longtime boyfriend, Tomas Berdych. Cibulkova won their only career meeting two years ago in Doha. The rematch couldn't have come at a better place. The Pick: Cibulkova in three
Nicolas Mahut vs. John Isner [23] (Court 18, fourth match)
Day 2 is filled with seemingly competitive men's matches: Dudi Sela vs. Mikhail Youzhny; David Ferrer vs. Nicolas Kiefer; Sam Querrey vs. Sergei Stakhovsky. But the most interesting first-rounder might be Mahut vs. Isner. You know what Isner brings to the table, but Mahut should not be overlooked, especially on grass. The spiky-haired Frenchman nearly bested Andy Roddick in the 2007 Queen's Club final with his serve-and-volley tactics, losing a 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (2) heartbreaker (he even held a match point). Mahut is known to get dirty on the turf; a dive is not out the question. If Isner did that, would be able to get up? The better question about this match, though, is who will blink first in this battle of hard-hitters. The Pick: Isner in four
Ed McGrogan is an assistant editor for TENNIS.com. Follow him on Twitter.