When Yannick Hanfmann steps on a tennis court, he has more than one motivation in his mind.

The 31-year-old German, who was locked in a fifth-set battle with ninth seed Taylor Fritz on Monday before rain suspended play at Wimbledon, has a plan in place for some of the money he earns as a professional tennis player. Inspired by a 2017 visit to a cheetah conservation centre in Stellenbosch, South Africa, Hanfmann aims to use his success to contribute to a cause close to his heart.

“Cheetahs were my favourite animal when I grew up and they still are,” Hanfmann told ATPTour.com last month. “I’m trying to put some money to charity every year, depending on how I play. The first few years it was the cheetahs in Stellenbosch and now it shifted to orangutans in Borneo.

“I love animals in general, but orangutans, gorillas, certain monkeys and cheetahs [are my favourites]. I see documentaries and stuff and I just can’t help but feel emotional about them. It’s something I’m passionate about.”

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As a pro travelling year-round on the ATP Tour, the time Hanfmann can devote to off-court hobbies and passions is limited. Having arrived at Wimbledon this year at a career-high No. 45 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, the German’s focus is currently solely trained on tennis, but he is keeping an open mind about his post-playing plans.

“At this point I don’t know, but [animals are] definitely something I’m passionate about, so who knows?,” said Hanfmann, when asked if he was interested in becoming more involved in environmental causes in the future. “I don’t want to rule it out. Whatever happens to me after tennis, hopefully I have a little bit of free time and maybe I can get involved with that. It would be cool.”

Hanfmann has become used to the constant travelling during his ATP Tour career, which began after a four-year stint playing U.S. college tennis at the University of Southern California. While seeing new parts of the world is among his favourite hobbies, he admits that preparing to compete against the world’s best is anything but a holiday.

“I love to travel, but maybe not necessarily for tennis, because we obviously do that a lot,” he said. “If I have a little bit of time at the end of the year, to travel with friends and family, I love that so much. You travel so much with your tennis bag and tennis stuff, I hope that after tennis maybe I can put that away and go for it a little bit more with a touristy approach.”

The global tennis merry-go-round nonetheless offers spontaneous opportunities for Hanfmann to experience new things. The German views venturing away from a tournament site to experience local life as essential for handling the relentless, week-on-week nature of the Tour.

“If I have a little bit of time, I try to do as much as I can, but the days during the tournaments are always a little bit crammed,” said Hanfmann. “The practice days are long, but there’s always a certain amount of hours I can use to get out and see some things.

“A few weeks ago, I was in Rome. Rome is amazing city, so I tried to see as much as I can. Once I lost in the tournament, that night I remember we walked basically throughout the whole city for a few hours. That was pretty nice.”

That stroll through town capped a dream fortnight for Hanfmann in the Eternal City, where he charged to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final as a qualifier at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. He backed up his May run on the Rome clay by reaching his first ATP Tour semi-final on grass at the Mallorca Championships last week, and he is confident of maintaining his good form further on a surface with which he has relatively little experience.

“In general, obviously my belief right now is pretty high,” said Hanfmann. “I feel like I’ve beaten a lot of good players, [even if not] on grass. It’s a bit shorter of a season [than clay]. My grass results over the years, I would say were average. Sometimes OK, sometimes good, sometimes [not good]. I think it’s the same for everyone. We don’t play on it too much, so it’s tough to say, ‘I cannot play on grass’.

“I think my serve is good, I’ve got a good transition game, so I think with a few matches under my belt I can get comfortable and really be dangerous.”

Hanfmann certainly proved that on Monday at Wimbledon, where he took 2022 quarter-finalist Fritz into a fifth set before rain intervened. If he can push on to defeat the World No. 9 for the second time this season when play resumes (he also beat Fritz in the second round in Rome), the German will advance to the second round of a major for just the third time.

Andy Murray opened his 2023 Wimbledon campaign with a grass-court clinic on Tuesday afternoon, when the home favourite outclassed his fellow Briton Ryan Peniston 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 on Centre Court.

The two-time champion was rock-solid from the baseline and showcased top-quality movement on the grass in his two-hour win. After fending off the first two break points of the match in the third and fifth games, respectively, Murray converted six of 12 break points of his own to charge to victory and set a second-round blockbuster against Stefanos Tsitsipas or Dominic Thiem.

“It’s obviously amazing to be back here playing on Centre Court,” said Murray in his on-court interview. “I was quite nervous at the beginning, coming out I wanted to play well but I started off a little bit tentatively. But once I got the break in that first set, I played some good stuff as the match went on and there were some good signs there.”

SIR 👏 ANDY 👏@andy_murray cruises past Peniston 6-3 6-0 6-1 to advance in Wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Wimbledon Wimbledon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/RAT6JHVv9Q

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 4, 2023

Playing under a closed roof in rainy London, Murray faced an early test from Peniston as the No. 268-ranked wild card went toe to toe with the former World No. 1 and twice carved out opportunities for the first break of the match.

Once Murray had saved both to hold for 2-1 and then 3-2, however, the 46-time tour-level titlist raised his level to spectacular effect. He struck the ball cleanly off both wings and frequently drew Peniston forward with clever use of the slice before picking off his out-of-position opponent.

Whenever Murray himself moved forwards, he was clinical. He won all 17 points he played at the net. Those volleying skills will have impressed eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, who was watching on from Centre Court’s Royal Box alongside Catherine, the Princess of Wales.

“It was amazing to have some royalty here, but also some tennis royalty as well,” said Murray of his former ATP Tour rival Federer. “It’s amazing to have Roger here supporting the event. Last time I was on this court and he was watching was in the [London 2012] Olympics and he was sat in Stan Wawrinka’s box supporting against me, so it’s nice to see a couple of claps today after some good shots.”

With his triumph, Murray improved to 61-12 at Wimbledon, where he lifted the trophy in 2013 and 2016. The 36-year-old lifted back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles on grass in June but Tuesday’s win was his first on the surface at tour-level this season.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt physically this good coming into Wimbledon, which is really, really positive,” said Murray. “The last few years have been very challenging so I’m hoping I’m fit and ready for a good run.”

British No. 1 Cameron Norrie followed Murray into the second round with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory against qualifier Tomas Machac. The 12th-seeded Norrie reacted well to dropping the second set on Court 1, ultimately converting seven of his 21 break points for a two-hour, 32-minute triumph.

Norrie reached his maiden major semi-final at Wimbledon a year ago, when he fell to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. The 27-year-old lifted his fifth tour-level title in Rio de Janeiro in February and arrived at SW19 off the back of a quarter-final run at The Queen’s Club.

Standing in his way next at the grass-court major will be Mallorca champion Christopher Eubanks or Thiago Monteiro. Their first-round match was one of 34 men’s singles matches cancelled on Wednesday due to rain in the U.K. capital.

In the final match on Centre Court, Daniel Evans was unable to rally from two sets down. The Briton stepped on court to resume his first-round match trailing Quentin Halys 2-6, 3-6. Evans won a tightly contested third set to fire up his home crowd, but Halys ultimately prevailed 6-2, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4. 

The Frenchman will next play Australian Aleksandar Vukic with the winner to face eighth seed Jannik Sinner or former Top 10 star Diego Schwartzman.

Although Evans was unable to rally, 29th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry was. The Argentine battled past Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-7(5), 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 for his first Wimbledon main draw win. He will next play three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka.

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz wasted little time reaching the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday, soaring past Jeremy Chardy, who was competing in his final singles match.

Under the roof on Court 1, the Spaniard overpowered the 36-year-old Frenchman with his destructive groundstrokes, sealing a 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 victory in one hour and 53 minutes.

“I think I played really well at the beginning of the match,” said Alcaraz in his on-court interview. “In the third set, he found his level. I was in trouble, but I like to play rallies, I like to play battles, and I’m really happy to have played a great level. Both of us in the third set. It was really close, but I’m really happy to get through this first round.”

The 2022 US Open champion Alcaraz is chasing his second major title this fortnight, and he could not have made a better start to his Wimbledon title bid, with his main scare coming at the start of the first set when he slipped on the slick court.

After shaking out his leg, Alcaraz quickly bounced to his feet and from there it was one-way traffic, with Chardy unable to deal with the Spaniard’s pace off the ground. The Frenchman struck seven double faults in the first set as he showed signs of nerves, but did play with more freedom as the match went on, breaking Alcaraz to lead 4-2 in the third set.

The 36-year-old was unable to sustain any serious pressure on Alcaraz in their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, though, with the top seed rolling off five of the next six games to advance.

“[The roof] doesn’t change too much for me,” said Alcaraz. “I try not to think about it. Obviously without the roof, with sun, is much better for me, I think for everyone as well, but I have to be really focused. With the roof or not, I have to show my best level, but I think the sound of the ball with the roof is really beautiful as well. Even more beautiful playing on grass. I think we hit the ball really cleanly, and it’s so beautiful to play.”

Alcaraz, who holds a 41-4 record on the season, will next meet Arthur Rinderknech or Alexandre Muller. The 20-year-old arrived at SW19 in strong form, having lifted his maiden tour-level grass-court title at The Queen’s Club last month. He is making his third appearance at Wimbledon, where he advanced to the fourth round last year.

If Alcaraz clinches his sixth tour-level title of the season at The Championships, he will remain at No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Chardy’s storied 18-year singles career on Tour came to an end following his defeat. The Frenchman lifted his only tour-level trophy in Stuttgart in 2009 and reached a career-high No. 25 in 2013. The 36-year-old, who is now coaching countryman Ugo Humbert, also won seven tour-level doubles titles.

While he received blow after blow against Alcaraz on Court 1, the Frenchman enjoyed a special moment when he earned his first game of the match at 0-6, 1-2, receiving a standing ovation from the packed crowd. Chardy was also cheered on by his wife, Susan, and son, Stone.

Rain has interrupted the first-round action at Wimbledon for the second consecutive day, with play suspended at approximately 1:10 p.m. local time (BST) on Tuesday at the grass-court major.

Among those forced to return to the locker room were Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem. Thiem led the fifth-seeded Tsitsipas 6-3, 3-4 on Court 2 in the pair’s 10th Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting when the rain arrived in south-west London. Matteo Berrettini is also behind early: Lorenzo Sonego leads the 2021 finalist 7-6(5) on Court 12.

Ben Shelton is in a commanding position on his Wimbledon debut against Taro Daniel. The #NextGenATP American led 6-4, 4-2 against the Japanese when play was suspended. Another of the ATP Tour’s young stars, Holger Rune, leads home wild card George Loffhagen 7-6(4).

Centre Court and Court 1 at the All England Club each have a retractable roof, meaning the schedule on both is set to proceed regardless of the weather. Home favourite Andy Murray takes on fellow Briton Ryan Peniston second on Centre Court, while top seed Carlos Alcaraz faces Jeremy Chardy on Court 1 before British No. 1 Cameron Norrie, a semi-finalist at SW19 in 2022, takes on Tomas Machac in the final match of the day.