Ladies' singles
Belinda Bencic vs Tsvetana Pironkova
As Bencic once mused, when contemplating why Switzerland has been producing such classy tennis players of late, maybe there's something in the chocolate. A former junior Wimbledon champion, the 19-year-old is already an A-lister in the women's game. But she might not find life so straightforward in her opening match when she plays a Bulgarian of some grass court distinction. Anyone who has twice beaten Venus Williams on the Wimbledon grass - as Pironkova has - is clearly very capable on the surface. The first of those wins over Williams was in 2010, en route to the semi-finals, and just to show that hadn't been a fluke, she beat the American again the following summer on the way to the quarter-finals. Still, Bencic has some memories of her own to call on - she drew the same opponent in last year's Wimbledon, and beat her in three sets.
Svetlana Kuznetsova vs Caroline Wozniacki
On one side of the net, a Russian who has won two Grand Slam titles with past victories at the US Open and Roland Garros, and who has been ranked as high as No.2 in the world. And facing Kuznetsova is a Dane who has appeared in two Grand Slam finals and has held the number one ranking. It's Kuznetsova who is the seeded player - she is considered the 13th most likely to win the tournament - while Wozniacki didn't have any protection in the draw, as a consequence of falling down the rankings. This match-up, between two grandees of the women's game, isn't the draw that either would have requested, but it's one that the galleries will appreciate.
Eugenie Bouchard vs Magdalena Rybarikova
It was just two years ago that Bouchard came within a couple of sets of winning the Venus Rosewater Dish (that same summer, her backers included Princess Eugenie, the royal after whom her parents had named her). Unfortunately for the Canadian, her opponent that day, Petra Kvitova, played grass court tennis that at times bordered on perfection. For all Bouchard's dramas and difficulties since the summer of 2014, she hasn't forgotten how to play on grass. She was also a force here as a junior, winning the girls' title in 2012. Could this be the fortnight when Bouchard - now unseeded - relaunches her tennis life?
Gentlemen's singles
Dominic Thiem vs Florian Mayer
In between his soldiering and his commitments to the Austrian military - he did mandatory national service - Thiem has propelled himself into the tennis elite. So far this season, he has won more matches than anyone else on the men's tour, with 47 victories, and he has broken through into the top 10. It was on the clay of Roland Garros that he appeared in his first Grand Slam semi-final this year, and the very next week he moved on to the grass and a pre-Wimbledon tournament in Stuttgart, where he won his first title on the surface. The difficulty for Thiem is that he has been drawn against Mayer, who defeated him in the last four of his final warm-up event in Halle. Mayer, a German who is 10 years Thiem's senior, can also play on the lawns - he went on to win Halle for his first career grass court title and has twice made the quarter-finals at the All England Club.
Stan Wawrinka vs Taylor Fritz
Wawrinka is already a member of Wimbledon's Last Eight Club, which came through making the quarter-finals in summers past. And his hopes for this year's Championships have been heightened by recruiting former champion Richard Krajicek to his coaching team. He wants what the Dutchman has - proper membership of the All England Club, which is among the perks of winning this tournament. After Wawrinka's past glories on the hard courts of the Australian Open and the clay of Roland Garros, can Krajicek give him the grass court know-how to win this title? But he has a potentially awkward start after being paired with an 18-year-old Californian who is already been spoken of as the future of American men's tennis. Fritz will be making his first appearance in the senior tournament after recently breaking into the top 100. And the teenager has already shown his grass court ability this summer by taking a set off another Swiss, Roger Federer, in Stuttgart.
Nick Kyrgios vs Radek Stepanek
It would appear that Kyrgios is simply incapable of playing a boring tennis match. Kyrgios and high drama go together like green walls and ivy. Ever since the summer of 2014, when he defeated Rafa Nadal on the way to the quarter-finals, Kyrgios stepping on to the grass has sent the Pimm's-ometer into overdrive. And his opponent is hardly one of the grey men of the sport either. The 37-year-old Stepanek has the talent, as well as the inclination, to make life very difficult for Kyrgios, even if, in the Australian's words, they're "good mates". The Czech caused a stir in the first round of this year's French Open when he came within two points of defeating Andy Murray, who would go on to reach a first final at Roland Garros.
