Wimbledon Men's Singles Day 1 Tips: Brit Evans could fall at first hurdle

• Last year's finalists Djokovic and Kyrgios in action

• Dan Evans looks a vulnerable favourite

• Fellow Brit Liam Broady could also struggle

Kyrgios' level is anyone's guess ahead of round one

The men's tournament gets started with action from the bottom half of the draw, which means that the likes of Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud, Nick Kyrgios and Andrey Rublev headline the day's play, and all except the injury-doubt Kyrgios are overwhelming favourites to progress to round two, probably with minimal fuss.

Kyrgios is 1.684/6 for his match against the veteran wild card David Goffin, and it's anyone's guess as to whether the enigmatic Australian will be in a decent physical condition for a five-set match. A match which is basically impossible to price.

Evans fade material ahead of Halys clash

As is always the case, a lot of matches in the opening rounds are likely to be something of a mismatch and there are going to be a lot of routine victories.

Two of the more competitive encounters actually feature British players, with Dan Evans a marginal favourite over Quentin Halys, and Liam Broady slightly shorter-priced against another French opponent, Constant Lestienne.

Evans is in the middle of a dreadful run of form lately, having won just one of his last seven, and that coming as a 1.11/10 pre-match favourite against a lucky loser in a Challenger tournament. Usually pretty solid on grass, things look a real struggle for the Brit right now.

Conversely, opponent Halys comes into Wimbledon in decent form, winning a title on the Challenger Tour several weeks ago, albeit on clay court. It was also against a weak run of opposition, so too much shouldn't be read into that title, and it's surprising that Halys hasn't chosen to play any grass warm-up events.

Halys should have the tools to be a decent grass-courter, with a very effective serve in particular likely to benefit from the additional court speed on the surface, but hasn't really got much track record on grass to date.

Evans looks fade material right now, but whether Halys is the player to oppose him with isn't guaranteed. However, the underdog price of 2.111/10 on Halys looks pretty attractive given how Evans has been struggling of late.

Fellow Brit Broady a vulnerable favourite

Fellow Brit Broady is 1.654/6 to get past Lestienne, and is also in a pretty mediocre run of form, having gone 2-4 on grass court warm-up events recently, and his only wins coming as a heavy pre-match favourite.

While the main tour is a little above the 29-year-old, he's shown signs of being at least a fairly competent grass-courter in the past, and had a five-set epic win as a big underdog against Diego Schwartzman here last year.

A Brit at Wimbledon is rarely going to be that much pre-match value, and it could well be the case here too. Lestienne has had an inconsistent grass season (3-4) but has picked up several good underdog wins, and another shouldn't be ruled out on Monday.

Kecmanovic should have too much for Schwartzman

Finally, the aforementioned Schwartzman faces Miomir Kecmanovic, with the Argentine having a really tough 2023 season so far. He's held just 66% of his service games this year on the main tour, which won't get the job done against many opponents.

I'd anticipate that Kecmanovic should have too much for Schwartzman here, although the 1.558/15 price about the Serb looks about right in my view.