The 139th edition of the Wimbledon Championships kicks off on Monday (you may have heard a thing or two about one of its unseeded players returning to the fold). Before a single ball is struck at the All England Club, though, the tournament has already arrived in New York. Central Park’s Wollman Rink has been transformed into a pop-up grass court—installed and tended by Wimbledon's own groundstaff—for a four-day celebration dubbed The Wimbledon Court in Central Park. Today's opening features a ticketed doubles match pairing Andre Agassi and Genie Bouchard against James Blake and Caroline Wozniacki; on Saturday and Sunday the event is free to the public and features tennis clinics (and strawberries and cream and Pimm’s, among other delights); and on Monday the tournament’s first matches will be shown on giant screens.

But let’s get back to that unseeded player in women’s singles. The big story—at Wimbledon, within the tennis world and the culture writ large—has been the improbable return of 23-time grand slam winner Serena Williams. At 44, nearly four years removed from her last singles match, the seven-time Wimbledon champion will face 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint, ranked 53rd in the world, in the first round on Tuesday (at 6 a.m. Eastern—set the alarms!), almost certainly on Centre Court. As Joint has won just three of her past 18 matches, Serena could hardly have asked for a more favorable pairing; if one assumes that Serena passes that test, she’d face the rising Filipina star Alexandra Eala (who comes with her own fervent following) in the second round; looming beyond that would be a potential third-round meeting with defending champion Iga Swiatek, who has never played Serena. In short: The tournament seems to have done well by Serena in terms of giving her runway to work—not just in singles, but also in her doubles pairings with her sister Venus, also quite favorable. Now it’s up to her, and them.

Beyond all that, though, the field of contenders is a deep one. World number-one Aryna Sabalenka leads the draw, of course, as top seed and will be looking to avenge some recent setbacks, particularly at the French—though her path to the finals seems almost to have been devised to make that an ongoing prizefight. If the matches play out according to seedings, she’d have to get through Naomi Osaka, fifth-seeded Mirra Andreeva, and fourth-seeded American Jessica Pegula to reach the final. Swiatek, whose 6-0, 6-0 dismantling of Amanda Anisimova in last year’s final still reverberates in SW19, nonetheless enters as third seed and could be formidable. French Open champion Andreeva, just 19, arrives with genuine momentum. Coco Gauff, whose game has been impressively on song lately though she’s still searching for her first grass court win of the season, might appear to be a longer shot on paper—though she rarely is on the court.

On the men’s side, defending champion and world number-one Jannik Sinner would seem to be a lock to repeat—though seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, maybe the best grass court player the sport has ever seen, has been placed in Sinner’s half, setting up the possibility of an epic clash before the final. (The weather may again play a part: Sinner, let’s remember, wilted his way out of the French in the extreme heat, and while the weather at Wimbledon would seem to be less-intense, one never knows. Then again, the tournament has for some time featured a heat rule: Essentially, when the temperature goes about 86 degrees Fahrenheit, players are allowed a break between sets later in their matches.) French Open champion Alexander Zverev anchors the bottom half of the draw, opening against the promising Belgian Alexander Blockx. (Carlos Alcaraz is still absent from the tour, healing a wrist injury.)

The most anticipated first-round clash on the men’s side, though, pits sixth-seeded American Taylor Fritz against England’s beloved Jack Draper. Fritz is in strong grass court form, having reached the finals in two lead-up tournaments. Draper, hampered recently by injuries, has been making a strong comeback this week, and he leads their head-to-head 3-2—and won their only previous grass court meeting, at Queen’s Club in 2022. Expect “it’s coming home”-level enthusiasm on Centre Court.

Enjoy the tennis!