LONDON -- Rafael Nadal, deeply tanned from numerous golf outings in Mallorca, Spain, frowned.
His super-heavy forehand, stroked in the direction of practice partner Feliciano Lopez, clipped the top of the net Saturday afternoon -- and fell back. Rafa muttered some Spanish under his breath to his coach, Uncle Toni Nadal, and sauntered back to the baseline before hitting a few more errant shots.
If body language is the window to a tennis player's soul, Nadal isn't in a terribly good place heading into his first-round match Tuesday.
It's been a rough run lately for the 14-time Grand Slam champion. His ranking, No. 10, is the lowest in a decade and he recently lost for only the second time in his career at the French Open. Rafa is fortunate that his quarter of the draw is now minus the highest-seeded player, No. 8 David Ferrer, who pulled out with an elbow injury.
Still, it is not hard to imagine an early exit -- at the hands of smoking hot Viktor Troicki or dangerous foil Fabio Fognini?
Which got us to thinking: Which potential first-week matches are we excited about? On the eve of this anticipated fortnight at the All England Club, we asked the ESPN.com staff, and here's what they came up with:
No. 2 Roger Federer versus No. 31 Jack Sock, third round
Peter Bodo: Sock, who just slipped in as the next-to-last seed, has been a pleasant and promising surprise this year -- just what American fans and tennis administrators have been longing for. He climbed 50 places in 2014 to finish in the top 50 at No. 42. Hip surgery late last year delayed his start in 2015 until Indian Wells, but he returned with a bang. He made the fourth round at that Masters 1000 event and soon hit a career-high ranking of No. 30.
Those may not be Federer-esque stats, but Sock is just 22 and shows signs of finally mastering a game as big as it is simple. He's got a massive serve and an atomic forehand.
No. 1 Novak Djokovic versus Philipp Kohlschreiber, first round
Howard Bryant: A first-round matchup for the defending Wimbledon champion would not appear to hold much suspense, but Kohlschreiber is a quality player whose ranking has slipped. He's ranked 33rd, but his career best is No. 16. His game is best on grass; he reached the quarterfinals here in 2012.
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.
No. 10 Angelique Kerber versus Garbine Muguruza, third round
Greg Garber: Kerber won the recent tournament at Birmingham and is lights-out on grass. She reached the quarters and semifinals here in the past three years. Muguruza is a terrific young player (she beat Serena Williams at the French Open a year ago) with lots of potential. Kerber beat Muguruza this year in the third round of the French, but it went three sets.
No. 21 Madison Keys versus No. 12 Eugenie Bouchard, third round
Melissa Isaacson: A year ago, this would be a pretty sure ticket home for the young American, as Bouchard came into the All England Club on an impressive Grand Slam roll of semifinal finishes in the Australian and French Opens.
We never saw what Keys, then 19, was capable of. She left the grounds in tears, retiring with a thigh injury before a second-set tiebreaker against Yaroslava Shvedova.
Bouchard, then 20, would reach the Wimbledon final before losing to Petra Kvitova. But since then, Bouchard has been struggling. Since losing to Maria Sharapova in the quarters of this year's Australian Open, Bouchard's best result is a round-of-16 appearance at Indian Wells, where she lost to qualifier Lesia Tsurenko. At Eastbourne, she retired in the third round with an abdominal injury to Belinda Bencic and has lost 10 of her past 12 matches. She has only eight wins in 2015.
Keys reached the semis of the Australian, where she lost to Serena Williams. Keys is on an upswing, winning five of her past seven matches. With her power game, she could go deep here.
Djokovic versus Lleyton Hewitt, second round
Matt Wilansky: There was a time when Lleyton Hewitt was Novak Djokovic: a world No. 1 and a Wimbledon champion.
Hewitt was brash, never afraid to reveal his emotions. His curt, often controversial, antics defied a game of style and grace. Hewitt didn't conform to the history of humility that is so often associated with this game, and he didn't care.
Djokovic, too, was once the bad boy of tennis, the villain whom fans loved to hate. In front of a rabid U.S. audience, he famously had a beef with Andy Roddick at the 2009 US Open. In an on-court interview after beating Roddick, Djokovic was wildly jeered, but it was the way the Serb relished the boos that turned people off even more.
As time has moved on, Djokovic and Hewitt are far more respected than they once were. Of course, Djokovic is at the climax of his career, while Hewitt will be playing his last Wimbledon, 13 years after he won the title.
How fitting would it be if Hewitt's final match at the All England Club came against Djokovic?