Andy Murray experienced the high of winning Olympic gold in London last year but his second round opponent at Wimbledon on Wednesday inflicted one of his most chastening defeats at the Beijing Games five years ago.
Lu Yen-hsun, a Taiwanese chicken farmer’s son who goes by the name of “Randy”, clipped Murray’s wings in 2008 but it would be a far greater scalp if he caused an upset on No. 1 Court.
“I know quite a lot about him,” US Open champion Murray said after beating Benjamin Becker in the first round.
“I lost to him in the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing. It was a very tough loss for me. I learnt a lot from that match.
“I think I’ve only played him once more. I played him earlier this year in Indian Wells… He’s made the quarters before; he’s beaten (Andy) Roddick here; he plays well on grass. So I’ll need to be ready.”
Seven-times champion Roger Federer is back on his favourite Centre Court to face Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine after an imperious first-round romp against Romania’s Victor Hanescu.
In the women’s draw, Maria Sharapova plays Portugal’s Michelle Larcher De Brito in what will be a noisy encounter on No. 2 Court between two of the game’s great grunters.
Second-seeded Belarussian Victoria Azarenka opens proceedings on Centre Court against Italy’s Flavia Pennetta.