Count Roger Federer among the growing number of Marcus Willis fans at Wimbledon.

Federer, who won his first-round contest in straight sets over Argentine Guido Pella, said he’s thrilled for the 25-year-old Willis, a tennis teaching pro who had to win six matches in pre-qualifying and qualifying to make it to Wimbledon. On Monday, Willis also won his first-round match, sweeping World No. 54 Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

“I think it’s one of the best stories in a long time in our sport,” Federer said after his first-round match. “This is the kind of stories we need in our sport.”

As much as Federer appreciates Willis, who was a Top 15 junior but lacked the drive he now possesses, the Swiss star would be OK if the feel-good story ended on Wednesday. That’s when the seven-time champion will face Willis, No. 772 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

“I’m very excited to be playing him, actually. It’s not something that I get to do very often,” Federer said.

The second-round match will be a rare first for Federer, who has played more than 1,300 tour-level matches and is making his 18^th consecutive appearance at Wimbledon. The 88-time titlist has faced up-and-coming players or players with very low Emirates ATP Rankings, but never before has he faced someone who still teaches tennis to kids and adults on the side for £30 an hour.

“This match is different. It’s picked up on momentum. People will hear about it. People will know about it. Naturally they’re going to support him. Rightfully so, because I think it’s a very cool story myself. It’s going to make the match difficult,” Federer said. “I saw him play today. He plays well. It’s not like he couldn’t play. Otherwise he wouldn’t be where he is. It’s going to be interesting. Plus he is serve and volleying, which I love to see. He came up with some great, great shots. To beat a guy of Berankis’ caliber in straight sets shows you how tough he is.”

Federer, who has served and volleyed a bit in his day, also delivered a scouting report on Willis, who likely will have to cancel more lessons to play against Federer. “A little bit more old school, using the slice, chipping the returns. Dangerous off the back… Saw some nice touch at the net,” Federer said. “First couple of days, it’s tricky to play anybody here at Wimbledon… I think his game is perfectly suited for these kind of conditions right now.”

Federer, whose story has been told thousands of times over the years, would even like to ask a few questions to Willis. “I just like the idea of him… It would be nice for him to tell me exactly how it went, the decision to enter pre-quallies. What went through his mind really, why he wanted to quit tennis, take up coaching… It’s just an interesting concept,” Federer said. “There’s a lot of cool things that are part of the story.”

Federer, who’s playing in only his seventh tournament of the season because of injuries, has said he has few expectations for this Wimbledon. He, like Willis, will be hoping for a great atmosphere and a good match in the second round. “If he gets more support, that’s awesome. If I get more support, that’s nice,” Federer said. “I hope he can play as good as he can and that I also can play a good match and everybody enjoys themselves.”

Roger Federer brought his best tennis when needed to open his 18^th consecutive Wimbledon with a 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 6-3 win over Argentine Guido Pella.

The seven-time Wimbledon champion never faced a break point against Pella, who is now 0-4 in tour-level grass-court matches. But Federer also struggled to break the left-hander, going one for nine on break points. Finally, at 4-3 in the third set, the third seed broke Pella and served out the set at love.

His win sets up a dream second-round matchup for Brit qualifier Marcus Willis, No. 772 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Willis had to go through pre-qualifying at Wimbledon and has had to cancel teaching lessons to continue playing at the Grand Slam.

The World No. 3 will look to continue his march to history. Federer, who has lost to Novak Djokovic in the past two Wimbledon finals, is trying to become the first man to win eight Wimbledon crowns. The 34 year old also now has 303 Grand Slam wins, putting him three wins away from tying Martina Navratilova for the most Grand Slam wins.

Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov prevailed against Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) to advance to the second round. Dolgopolov, the 30^th seed, nearly doubled his winners to unforced errors, 45 to 24. He next will face Brit Daniel Evans, who outlasted German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(7), 7-5.

David Goffin advanced to the second round at The Championships for the second consecutive year. Goffin, the 11^th seed, swept British wild card Alexander Ward 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 31 minutes.

The 25-year-old Goffin is fresh off his best showing at a Grand Slam when he reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros earlier this month (l. to Thiem). The Belgian enjoyed his deepest run at Wimbledon last year when he made the fourth round (l. to Wawrinka).

Goffin next will face French qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who came back to beat Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Denis Istomin, who lost in the first round in Nottingham last week, upset 20^th seed Kevin Anderson 4-6, 6-7(13), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-3. Istomin broke the South African three times in the three-hour and 35-minute match. The Uzbekistani next will face Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who outlasted Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3, 7-6(6), 5-7, 3-6, 6-3.

Marcus Willis has spent much of this year working as a teaching pro at the Warwick Boat Club, but he may want to consider putting in his notice after defeating Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania on Monday at Wimbledon.

The British qualifier, who was the last direct entrant into the pre-qualifying tournament for Wimbledon, played the match of his life in defeating Berankis, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. Willis defied his Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 772, hitting 14 aces and 43 winners to defeat a player ranked more than 700 spots higher than him. The plucky Brit also saved 19 of 20 break points during the match. He raised his arms in triumph after hitting a service winner on match point and rushed to celebrate with friends and family.

“It’s quite a nice life, isn’t it,” said Willis. “I haven’t experienced this. Goran Ivanisevic just came around and shook my hand. He’s my hero.”

Willis was once a highly touted junior ranked in the Top 15 of the ITF Junior Rankings, but struggled to immediately replicate that success on the pro tour. He blamed poor living in his first few years for his results not matching his talent.

“I was bigged up a lot.  Then I got dropped in the real world. I lost a lot of confidence, made some bad decisions and went out too much. Lifestyle wasn’t good,” said Willis. “I didn’t have the drive. I found it three years ago. I worked very hard with my coach, Matt Smith, in Surbiton. Ridiculous times in the morning and ran myself into the ground, but it’s worth it now.”

Just as he found his drive, his body betrayed him. Willis struggled with injuries and was limited to just one tournament this year in January. He took up a coaching job and began playing in French and German tennis leagues in the hopes of putting together enough money to return to the tour full-time in January, but the guaranteed £50,000 he’ll earn for reaching the second-round will go a long way towards bringing him back sooner.

His dream run now becomes surreal as he gets ready to play No. 3 seed Roger Federer in a match that could potentially be placed on Centre Court.

“I’m not sure he can play on grass,” joked Willis. “Obviously it’s an amazing dream come true. I get to play on a stadium court.  This is what I dreamed of when I was younger. I’m going to go out there and try to win the match. I might not.  But I’m going to give everything, as I have the last seven matches.”

Novak Djokovic showed no sign of nerves in attempting to defend his Wimbledon title, earning a convincing win on Monday over British wild card James Ward.

The No. 1 seed and three-time champion was in control throughout the match and didn’t allow his opponent a chance to develop momentum. Djokovic won the first nine games of the match on his way to reaching the second round at Wimbledon for the 12^th consecutive year.

“I honestly didn’t expect myself to start that well,” said Djokovic. “It was just a matter of time when James would win his first game. I knew that the reaction of the crowd, and his own reaction, would be the way it was. The first part of the match was almost flawless, so I’m very pleased with the way I started Wimbledon.”

Djokovic made tennis history at Roland Garros by completing the career Grand Slam, becoming just the eighth player and fourth in the Open Era to do so. He’s also the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once. Although he took time to enjoy the moment, his attention turned towards Wimbledon shortly after his victory in Paris.

“The tennis schedule is such that it requires immediate focus on the next tournament. Literally after a week or so, I had to start training and getting myself in shape for grass,” said Djokovic. “I try to take the best from the past and try to remember those nice moments. Thankfully, there were plenty of those nice moments on the tennis court in the last couple of years.”

Djokovic will next play Adrian Mannarino of France, a dangerous grass-court player who reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2013. Although the win over Ward was his first official match on grass this year, he said the relative lack of match play on the surface wasn’t a worry for him.

“Obviously when you’re on the court and you’re part of an official match, it’s different. [But] I had plenty of time to practise, get some match play during the practise sessions, a lot of points with different players,” said Djokovic. “I think it’s enough. It hasn’t been an issue three times so far in the past five years, so I don’t see any issue now.”