Wimbledon 2015: Full TV and Live Stream Schedule for Monday at All England Club
Grass courts, all-white tennis ensembles and strawberries and cream: It's time for Wimbledon 2015.
This prestigious major starts Monday from the All England Club in London. Summer is always a fine time for tennis fans, as Wimbledon comes right on the heels of the French Open and the clay-court season.
Roland Garros saw Stan Wawrinka win the men's singles title and Serena Williams—perhaps the single most dominant athlete in any sport at the moment—win her 20th major in the women's division. Both players will be looking to burnish their reputations in England, but the competition will be fierce.
Some of the world's best tennis pros are in action Monday. Here's the TV and live stream schedule for Day 1 at Wimbledon.
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Wimbledon 2015: Monday TV, Live Stream Schedule
Time (ET): 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Order of Play: Wimbledon.com
Matches to Watch on Monday
No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber
Novak Djokovic missed out on winning his first French Open title, as the aforementioned Wawrinka stunned him in the men's final with a brilliant, shocking four-set victory. Djokovic admitted it took a toll.
“Took me some time really to recover and to rest after Paris. I didn’t want to think about tennis too much,” said Djokovic, per the Associated Press' Chris Lehourites (via The Globe and Mail). “Got myself on the court about 10 days ago, started practicing on grass."
While he'll have to wait another year to add clay-court mastery to his robust tennis resume, Djokovic has an opportunity to reaffirm his ranking as the No. 1 men's player in the world at the All England Club. Last year, he defeated Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final for his eighth major win.
Djokovic will have to navigate quite the field to get back on top, and the journey starts with world No. 33 Philipp Kohlschreiber. This match would be worthwhile in the round of 16 or perhaps even quarters, but fans get to see these two in action on Day 1.
Kohlschreiber is having a tough 2015 at just 14-13 on the year in singles play. He also has just one win against Djoker in his career, and it came all the way back in 2009. He's exceedingly unlikely to beat Djokovic on Monday, but he can make the Serbian sweat things out early. ESPN.com's Howard Bryant noted how the German might test Djokovic in the first round:
"Kohlschreiber is certainly an underdog, but Djokovic, as is his recent custom, did not play a grass tournament leading up to Wimbledon. It will be interesting to measure the world No. 1's form and comportment having not played a match since losing so disappointingly to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final.
You can bet that Kohlschreiber, who lost two tiebreakers against Federer (including the third set) in Halle, will not allow Djokovic to ease his ease his way into this tournament.
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All eyes will be on Djokovic and whether or not he will have his grass game together with little preparation. Djokovic will win this one, but Kohlschreiber certainly has what it takes to push him to a hard-fought fourth set.
No. 4 Maria Sharapova vs. Johanna Konta
It can sometimes seem like Maria Sharapova's been around forever, and yet the Russian great is still just 28 years old. While some tennis players face a steep decline once they near 30, Sharapova's proven her game is still among the most formidable in the word. She won the French Open in 2014 and is 29-6 on the year in singles play, with two titles.
Wimbledon was the tournament that made Sharapova a household name when she won it in 2004, so you can bet she would love nothing more than to perhaps bust up Williams' reign over the women's game with a potentially famous win at the All England Club.
However, a number of forces are working against Sharapova on Monday. She's paired with world No. 126 Johanna Konta, a 24-year-old from Great Britain who should find great support from the crowd in this match. Sharapova also lacks a book on her opponent, something she acknowledges is difficult in starting off a Grand Slam, per Live Tennis:
"#MariaSharapova: “We’ve never played each other before. That's always tricky in R1 of a GS.” http://t.co/Tz6ifGRDWQ pic.twitter.com/3VxmcQ7wEf
— Live Tennis (@livetennis) June 29, 2015"
Konta is also coming off of a fine quarterfinal run at the 2015 Aegon International tournament in Eastbourne. She did face and defeat some highly ranked players, per BBC Sport:
Konta also defeated No. 8 Ekaterina Makarova in that tournament. If ever there was a trap opponent for a player like Sharapova in Round 1, it would be Konta. That being said, Konta has never made it past the first round of Wimbledon and has hardly ventured deep into other Grand Slam events in her career. Sharapova will move on, but she will likely have to play some of her best tennis in order to do so.
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