Murray Ready For Wimbledon Defence

Andy Murray will step onto familiar ground but into the unknown when he takes to Centre Court on Monday afternoon to begin the defence of his Wimbledon title. The Scot knows every inch of the most famous arena in tennis but never before has he played the first match of the tournament on it, the preserve of the reigning men's champion. "I'm aware when I walk out on the court I'm going to be nervous," said Murray. "I know there's going to be pressure. That's why when I woke up (on Sunday) there's butterflies there. You're one day away from starting the tournament. "But I hope that I'm able to deal with it well. We'll find out." The draw appears to have been relatively kind, with world number 104 David Goffin the man picked out to share centre stage. Goffin did reach the fourth round at the French Open in 2012, pushing Roger Federer to four sets, but has lost his last seven grand slam matches. In Murray's corner for the first time at a grand slam will be his coach of two weeks, Amelie Mauresmo. The Frenchwoman's appointment has been the talk of the tennis world, with Murray becoming the most high-profile male player to hire a female coach. Mauresmo has been in Murray's shoes having won Wimbledon in 2006 while she also guided Marion Bartoli to a hugely surprising triumph last year. "We were talking about it, that she's kind of the defending champion here and she has to defend a title," said Bartoli, who retired a month after lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish. "I think it's amazing to see that a guy, really one of the top players in the world, is hiring a woman to coach him." Men's top seed Novak Djokovic also begins his tournament on Monday against Kazakh Andrey Golubev while Li Na takes on Paula Kania in the second match on Centre Court. Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Grigor Dimitrov, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych are also in action along with six other British players. Dan Evans, James Ward, Dan Cox, Kyle Edmund, Johanna Konta and Naomi Broady will all hope to upset the rankings and reach round two. Edmund, 19 and making his second appearance in the main draw after losing to eventual semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz in the first round last year, faces Andreas Haider-Maurer. The Yorkshire teenager, ranked 284th, is now being coach by former British number one Greg Rusedski, who told Press Association Sport: "It's a good opportunity, he has nothing to lose and if he plays to his potential then he's got a good chance. "This year has been a learning experience for him and hopefully he can improve from last year's performance at Wimbledon. "He's on track. From his age group there's about four or five players that are ranked in the top 320 in the world and he's one of them. "I look at those four or five players and I think those will be the ones that most likely will break into the top 100 and further on during their careers. "He's got the right attitude and the right work ethic and he's got a good team of people around him."