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.

Andy Murray has pulled out of the singles at Wimbledon ahead of his first-round match against Tomas Machac, but the 37-year-old will make a farewell appearance at the Championships alongside his older brother Jamie in the doubles.

“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,” a statement from Murray’s team read.

Under the roof on Centre Court, the symbolism felt a little too obvious. As Andy Murray departed the stage, forced to withdraw on the morning of his final Wimbledon singles match, up stepped Jack Draper, the new British No 1. And while a scrappy, often unconvincing five-set win over the qualifier Elias Ymer hardly felt like the triumphant start of a new era for British tennis at Wimbledon, it was reminiscent of something else. The Centre Court crowd had come for Murray – Draper said so himself – but still saw a display of heart and grit from the 22-year-old. As Murray proved countless times during his golden years, success at Wimbledon is built on such qualities.

It may have been a fitting tribute to his idol, but as Draper thumped a final serve out wide on match point and smacked a ball high into the rafters on Centre Court, this was a victory that was met with more relief and frustration than outright celebration. Clearly, a fifth-set decider was not the plan for the 29th seed Draper, expected to dispatch an opponent ranked outside the world’s top 200 who had only played two tour-level matches this year. He will be aiming higher after returning to the second round, against the former British No 1 and Wimbledon semi-finalist Cameron Norrie.

But it is not easy to follow the departure of Britain’s two-time champion and literally step into the void left by a legend of the sport. “I wouldn’t be here without Andy,” Draper said on Centre Court. “Such a guy off the court, so genuine, so kind, what a champion and what a competitor.” Yet here he was, stepping into those shoes. In what was a significant moment in his young career, faced with increased expectations and an opponent with nothing to lose, Draper emerged with a battling win to build on into the fortnight.