text: Wimbledon 2014: Opening day re-cap as Andy Murray begins title defence - MyLondon
  Wimbledon 2014: Opening day recap as Andy Murray begins title defence
  Colin Mackenzie looks back on the first day's play at the All England Club
  09:05, 24 JUN 2014
  Updated 09:06, 24 JUN 2014
  Title defence: Andy Murray is the reigning Wimbledon men's singles champion
  It may have taken eight years but the reception accorded Andy Murray as he entered Centre Court yesterday as the reigning Wimbledon champion has finally exorcised those feelings of doubt expressed by the Sassenachs after the teenager jokingly hoped England would not progress in the 2004 World Cup.
  An end to the 77-year drought of male champions ensured Murray's place in the hearts and minds of middle England and, boy, did they roar their approval even before he began his day job.
  Murray looked thoroughly prepared and sharp as he dealt with the somewhat lightweight Belgian threat of David Goffin, ranked 104 in the world but probably better than that.
  The Michael J Fox lookalike is athletic and quick but he was he who slipped on the verdant grass of Centre Court while the sure-footed Murray sprayed winners all around.
  Great Britain's Andy Murray in action against Belgium's David Goffin during day one of the Wimbledon Championships
  It took a total of 102 minutes for Murray to progress, relatively serenely, into Round Two of the championships. And only in the final third of the match, which will have added to his confidence, was he at all threatened.
  Goffin, like Steve Darcis who knocked out Rafael Nadal last year in the first round, is from Liege He began to play his fluent ground shots, particularly his passing backhands, to greater effect in what turned out to be the third and final set.
  But Murray remained resolute and never lost his serve or his nerve. As he eventually broke Goffin's resolve in the 11th game of the third set he served out for a thoroughly satisfactory win witnessed by his new coach Amelie Mauresmo, herself the Wimbledon champion of 2006.
  Afterwards Murray said: "I played very well. I hit the ball clean from the beginning of the match. I thought the second and third sets were a very high level when he was playing aggressively."
  Murray now faces Blaz Rola from Slovenia who beat Spain's Pablo Andujar in straight sets. The 23-year-old left hander is ranked 92 in the world but was beaten by Britain's James Ward twice this year, last time at Queen's two weeks ago.
  Ward himself was defeated by the disappointing score of 6-2, 6-2, 6-1, falling to 17th seed Mikhail Youzhny. While the latter is a tough cookie, particularly on grass, Ward lacked the focus, intensity and guts needed for this game.
  In a disappointing day for Britain's wild cards Daniel Cox, Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans also succumbed, although going home the richer by £27,000 each. Evans, in particular, seemed to have a good chance of downing Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov, ranked only 118 in the world.
  But the Russian served particularly well and was two sets to love up before Evans gathered his wits sufficiently to win set three. There was a gargantuan struggle in set four before the young Russian, a former junior champion at Wimbledon, prevailed in the tiebreak.
  One ray of hope was provided by the former "bad girl" of British tennis Naomi Broady, 24, who came from a set down to beat Timea Babos, 2-6, 7-6, 6-0. Broady had her funding removed by the LTA seven years ago after she posted a saucy photo of herself on social media.
  Great Britain's Naomi Broady during the first round
  The tall, blonde, Broady has Sharapova-like legs and an even bigger serve that can thunder down at an opponent at 120mph. But she lacks Sharapova's consistency and will to win.
  This was a first Wimbledon triumph for her but it is unlikely she will go much further as she is likely to face former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the next round tomorrow.
  She said: "I still to this day don't see what the fuss was about (her controversial photo). I wasn't doing drugs, I wasn't paralytic drunk on the floor. It was just a stupid, jokey pose that looked horrible.
  "Actually I quite like it (being the bad girl of British tennis) because I'm really boring. So I quite like that people are intrigued by my naughty side which doesn't exist."
  Two female seeds fell on the opening day. America's new golden girl Sloane Stephens was downed 6-2, 7-6 by Russia's Maria Kirilenko despite saving five match points. And 17th seed Sam Stosur went down 6-3, 6-4 to the big hitting Belgian Yanina Wickmeyer.