Andy Murray has admitted that getting off to a good start helped settle his nerves as he began his defence of his Wimbledon title.
Murray, who swept past David Goffin with a 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 win on day one of the Wimbledon Open, admitted to having felt the pressure of the occasion.
The British number one received a rapturous reception as he fulfilled the tradition of returning men’s champions opening play on Centre Court.
He believed his fast start helped him overcome his opponent, saying: “I was probably a bit more nervous yesterday than I was today.
“But it does help if you can get ahead early like I did. That helped settle the nerves down a little bit.
“I played very well. I hit the ball very well. I hit the ball clean from the beginning of the match.
“I thought the second and third sets were very high level. I thought he played very well. He was aggressive. He goes for his shots. He moves extremely well. He’s very quick around the court. He has great hands up at the net as well.
“He played a bad game from 40-0 up at 5-5 in the third set. But it was very good.”
In other Wimbledon Open games, Novak Djokovic, eased into the second round of the men’s singles with a straight-sets win. The 2011 champion defeated Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-0 6-1 6-4 in one hour and 28 minutes.
6th seed, Tomas Berdych, survived an early scare before advancing to the next round, while 7th seed, David Ferrer, also advanced with a 6-0 6-7 (3-7) 6-1 6-1 victory over fellow Spaniard, Pablo Carreno-Busta.
There were also wins for 12th seed, Ernests Gulbis, 17th seed, Mikhail Youzhny and Queen’s Club champion, Grigor Dimitrov, the 11th seed.