Jen Wake:, external This should be an easy win for Murray. Have I jinxed him saying that?

Tracey Foster:, external I'm supporting Goffin. Why has Andy Murray started to make that ridiculous noise when he serves?

Sloane Stephens, the American 18th seed, and Sam Stosur, the 17th seed from Australia, are both out. Stephens lost 6-4 7-6 to Maria Kirilenko and Stosur was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Yanina Wickmayer. Stephens' defeat on Court 18 means Britain's Dan Cox is due to start his match against Jeremy Chardy.

If you haven't seen Goffin before, there's something of a considerably more healthy Ian Curtis about him. My colleague Piers Newbery sees instead a young Martin Jarvis. Joy Division or stalwart of British rep - you decide. Warm applause from the Centre Court crowd as he takes his first game of the contest.

Britain's Johanna Konta has taken the second set 6-3 to take her first-round match against Shuai Peng of China to a decider.

Tim Henman
Former British number one on BBC TV

"I wouldn't disagree that Novak Djokovic is the favourite to win the tournament. He's won here before and knows his way around a grass court.

"I'd be very surprised if the winner comes from outside the top four seeds. Rafa and Roger are going to be keen to get their teeth into the tournament, and I don't see them losing early."

Murmurs of concern as Murray slips mid-court before thumping his forehand cross-court - too much mustard on that one for our Belgian friend, and his own forehand will die in the arms of the net. Mmm, shot du jour from Murray, whipping a backhand pass down the line. 12 minutes gone, and a stroll in the sunshine for the champ thus far.

John McEnroe
Three-time Wimbledon singles champion on BBC TV

"The court's a little bit slick, so you're a little tentative about movement early on, however much you've practised beforehand. But as the match progress, I suspect Andy will move forward more. If he's going to win more majors, he's going to have to do that against the top guys."

Image source, Getty Images

A comparatively diminutive figure, Goffin - pronounced not as in Gerry of Carole King partnership but in the Belgian Goff-an style. The world no.104 pulls a tight backhand into the net to concede his first break point, but off a second serve Murray puts a double-fister of a backhand tamely wide. He'll get another bite, and this time Goffin's error hands the game across on a silver platter.

Earlier, we asked you to vote for who you think will win the Wimbledon men's singles crown. And the results are in. 36% of you think Novak Djokovic will win, 24% of you went for Andy Murray, 23% chose Rafael Nadal and 9% voted for Roger Federer. Stan Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov both received 3% of the vote.

Meanwhile, Britain's Johanna Konta is battling away on Court 12 and leads 5-3 in the second set, having lost the first 6-4 to Shuai Peng. James Ward is level at 1-1 in his match against Mikhail Youzhny on Court Three. Over on Court One Victoria Azarenka has lost the first game to Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Murray to serve first, a white sweatband on each wrist, long white shorts, collarless v-neck T-shirt. Goffin lashes consecutive forehands into the tramlines on Murray's backhand side; an ace down the middle seals the first game. The defence has begun.

* denotes next server

Martina Navratilova
Nine-time Wimbledon singles champion on BBC Radio 5 live

"I don't know if any player has ever had a welcome on to Centre Court for the opening match like that before. It has been a long wait for the British public to greet a home champion."

A little more background. Murray has lost 11 times this season, more than he did in the whole of an injury-truncated 2013. In that time he is yet to beat a single player in the world's top 10, and has beaten only one in the top 20. At the same stage in 2013, he had beaten nine players in that 20-strong top bracket; in 2012, six.

In other words, today is the perfect time for the revival to begin.

Now, the first day of Wimbledon, slap-bam in the middle of summer, sun shining, Pimm's flowing, is no place for negativity. So let's call it a little precedent: of the 20 first-time winners of the Wimbledon men's singles title in the Open era, only four have gone on to retain their crown the following year - Bjorn Borg in 1977, Boris Becker in 1986, Pete Sampras in 1994 and Roger Federer 10 years later.

John McEnroe
Three-time Wimbledon singles champion on BBC TV

"I went through a lot of things before I won Wimbledon for the first time. Much of it was self-inflicted. But I used to think: 'If I ever win this damn thing, I'm never coming back.' But when I did, the first thought I had was: 'I want to win this again.'

"There's still pressure, but I suspect Andy Murray probably wants it a little more than before."

Here he comes - defending men's singles champion Andy Murray. Standing ovation for merely taking a step onto Centre Court, and quite rightly so. Shy wave to the patriots all around, head down, to the chair.

Tim Henman
Former British number one on BBC TV

"No upset here for me today. David Goffin's only won two matches on grass. So it's a good chance for Andy to get his title defence under way today.

"I feel Andy did the hard work in winning it last year and ending that 77-year wait. I hope Andy can embrace it on Centre Court today. If he enjoys it, I'm sure he will come through. He needs to get out there and bully Goffin."

Line judges in place, eager patrons dashing to their seats clutching plastic beverage containers. Is that movement in the locker-room?

Was it really 50 weeks ago we were last here (I'm assuming you're not a member of the All England Club's groundstaff - if you are, you're probably here every Monday morning)?

But time for matters Centre Court.

Tom Fordyce, the man who typed you through Andy Murray's win over Novak Djokovic 12 months ago, has just moulded the live text seat to his liking.

Over to him for the first round match of the main man's 2014 campaign...