Never before has so much attention been focused on one man’s left hip.
From questions about whether he would even be able to take to the court to calls from psychic Uri Geller for the nation to rub a picture of him to aid the recovery process, so much of this year’s pre-Wimbledon hype has been about Sir Andy Murray’s injury status.
Monday’s 6-1 6-4 6-2 victory over Alexander Bublik – a match in which he hit 29 winners – will have gone some way to easing the state of the national nerves.
That is not to say that it was Murray at full flow while his lucky loser opponent also coughed up his fair share of points including 12 double faults and 35 unforced errors.
A title can be lost in the first round. However it is not won and Murray is a seasoned enough campaigner to know how much of the tank needs emptying in the early rounds.
And for now, he was simply content to register his first grass-court win of the year and get his Wimbledon defence up and running with Germany’s Dustin Brown next in round two.
“I was a bit nervous this morning, I hadn’t been able to do as much as I would have liked in the build up, I didn’t know the guy I was playing and it was the first match of a Grand Slam so there are always a few extra nerves,” said Murray, who is aiming to match fellow Brit Fred Perry by winning a third Wimbledon crown.
“But once I got out there and got the early break, after saving a few break points on my service game, I felt good and moved well.
“Considering how I was feeling five, six days ago it was really positive.
“If you're in a little bit of pain, but you can still run as you normally do, that doesn't affect how you play. It's when it's affecting your movement and some of the shots that you play when it becomes a problem. Today certainly wasn't the case at all.
"It was not the easiest match to play because of the way he plays. There was not a load of rhythm. But I hit the ball well. I don't feel like I made too many unforced errors.”
After all the build up and attention on his injury, an easy opening service game hold would have been much welcomed by the Murray camp.
But it was a nervy start by the Brit with a double fault bringing up 15-40 before he recovered his composure to hold.
After then he was rarely tested, wrapping up the first set with a hold to love before breaking in the very first game of the second.
A brief wobble when serving for the second came when Bublik raced into a 40-0 lead before Murray saved all three before winning the set.
Two rain delays arrived in the third set but with the roof kept open the players returned and Murray duly won four of the next six games to take the win.
Elsewhere on day one, there were early exits for Cameron Norrie who lost 6-3 6-2 6-2 to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga inside 88 minutes.
While Laura Robson, who has struggled for form and fitness in recent years, was unable to bring an end to her losing run in the first round of a Grand Slam as she went down 6-4 6-2 to Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia.
The result continued a wretched Grand Slam record for the 23-year-old, who has not progressed past the first round in her last seven attempts, a run dating back to the US Open in 2013.
"I just didn't feel like I played my best tennis at all,” she said.
“It wasn't the way that I've been playing the last few weeks even. So I do feel like I let myself down a bit out there. “I just never really let myself get into the match. I was just a bit overwhelmed with nerves when I first got out there, then tried to play too perfect when really I didn't need to go for so much.
“I thought I had a really good chance. With the way that I'd been playing the last few weeks, there is no reason I couldn't have won that match. “It just gets a hold of you. Once you start trying to overhit it, try to play too perfect, it's tough to get out of that.” Sportsbeat 2017