Roger Federer takes on first round marathon man Adrian Mannarino in the second round on Thursday.
Federer began his quest for a seventh Wimbledon title with a 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 first round win over Mikhail Kukushkin on Tuesday but even after so many years, he admitted to feeling some nerves in the early stages of his first round clash.
"The first rounds here at Wimbledon on Centre Court are never easy. They're somewhat nerve wracking because you don't get a chance to practice on the Centre Courts here," he said. "I struggled early on in the first set to get any read on his serve, even though he's not the biggest server. But he served consistent. You know, Centre Court, the surroundings were just a bit off in the beginning, and he did well. That made it difficult."
"But then I never really struggled on my serve. I was able to actually cruise almost, you know, through lots of my service games. That then maybe probably relaxed me at times maybe a bit too much. But overall it was a good performance."
Mannarino was involved in one of the most entertaining first round matches, a five set epic with Ireland's Conor Niland which had the stands packed to the rafters out on Court 17. Mannarino found himself 4-1 down (two breaks) in the fifth set but somehow hit back to win 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 in just over four hours.
The left-hander has enjoyed a fine grass-court season, defeating Ernests Gulbis, Gilles Simon and Juan Martin Del Potro en route to the Queens quarter-finals. However Federer should be a step too far particularly if Mannarino is suffering physically from Tuesday's exertions.
