LONDON -- Imagine what the reception will be like for Andy Murray on Monday when he first strides onto the green grass of Centre Court at Wimbledon. A year ago, Murray became the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the singles title at a tournament the locals refer to simply as "The Championships," ending a nations long wait and sparking talk of a knighthood. This year, Murray gets the defending champions honour of playing the fortnights first match on the most famous tennis court in the world. Seems safe to say that 15,000 or so of his closest friends will greet him with a full-throated roar. "As the time gets nearer, and, you know, I get ready to play the first match on Monday, Ill definitely ... be excited about it," Murray said. "I will be nervous. It (is) an experience; something I have never experienced before. Players have talked about it in the past, that its a great experience. But it can also be a nerve-racking one." Murray had a slow start this season, coming off back surgery, and he hasnt reached a final since Wimbledon 50 weeks ago. But he showed hes on the way back to peak form by reaching the semifinals at the French Open. Performing that well on clay would seem to bode well for what he can do on grass. "I expect to play well there. Im really looking forward to going back. I think it will give me a lot of positive energy," Murray said. "Im glad Im back playing to a level that was able to get me through to the last stage of Slams." As for how Murray will handle whatever jitters accompany his first trip back to the site of his most significant victory, his peers think hell be just fine. "The way hes got himself back into shape again, I think he can really believe again. Thats whats most important now," said Roger Federer, who won seven of his record 17 major championships at Wimbledon and is coming off a grass title at Halle, Germany. "(Being) defending champion is never an easy thing. But then again, he played so well on grass the last few years. ... I would feel comfortable if I was Andy at this point." Novak Djokovic, the 2011 champion and runner-up to Murray last year, agreed. "Im sure that Andy, with all the experience he has playing in the big matches, and especially here in front of his home crowd, understands and knows the way how to handle the pressure and expectation," Djokovic said. "So I expect him to do well." The other reigning singles champion, Frances Marion Bartoli, will not try to defend her title, announcing her retirement at 28, less than six weeks after the 2013 final. That actually fits well with the quirky career of Bartoli, who certainly did things her way, down to her two-fisted strokes for forehands, backhands and volleys. While Murrays baseline game is rather conventional by todays standards, his coaching decisions have been groundbreaking. After parting in March with Ivan Lendl -- whose hiring was followed by those of fellow past greats of the game Stefan Edberg (by Federer) and Boris Becker (by Djokovic) -- Murray picked former womens No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo as a replacement this month. "All Im interested in is to be able to help him (reach) his goals," Mauresmo said. "Thats about it." Murray, who grew up in Dunblane, Scotland, has made plain that those aims are primarily about winning more Grand Slam trophies. He earned his first at the 2012 U.S. Open, shortly after winning a gold medal at the London Olympics. Those triumphs followed his loss to Federer at Wimbledon that year. In 2013, Murray beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon final to end the 77-year drought. Scotlands vote in September about whether to break away from Britain -- Murray has steadfastly avoided weighing in -- will be a popular topic of conversation around London this summer, and with Englands early elimination from the World Cup, the attention on "Our Andy" at Wimbledon figures to be as strong as ever. "Anytime you taste what it feels like to win it once, you obviously want to win it again. So theres an element of pressure you put on yourself, for starters, because you sort of want to see what that feels like at least one more time," said ESPN analyst John McEnroe, who won Wimbledon three times. "From that standpoint, hes going to be feeling pressure. Clearly now once people know he can do it, theyre going to think he should do it again." Jamaal Wilkes Jersey . Hamelin overcame a weak start to win bronze in the 500-metre race behind winner Wu Dajing of China and American J.R. Celski on Saturday at the world short track speed skating championship. Nick Van Exel Jersey . John Albert Elway, 24, was booked into jail early Saturday morning after an incident near a college campus in downtown Denver, according to jail records. http://www.lakersbasketballshop.com/Customized/ .com) - Will Conant booted a 39-yard field goal as time expired and Air Force played spoiler with a 27-24 win over 21st- ranked Colorado State on Friday. James Worthy Lakers Jersey .com) - The surprising Calgary Flames host the winless New Jersey Devils at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday. Kobe Bryant Jersey . Two-time Olympic bronze medallists Savchenko and Szolkowy received 79.02 points to finish ahead of world bronze medallists Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada, who had 77.01 points.HAMILTON - It was a night of redemption for the Abbotsford Heat. Three days after falling to Hamilton, Abbotsford scored three goals in 53 seconds en route to a convincing 5-1 win over the Bulldogs Saturday in American Hockey League play. "We wish that this could have come on Wednesday, but we played a complete game tonight," said Heat forward Corey Locke. "We had everything from power-play goals to big penalty kills, and it was a whole group effort. Everyone chipped in tonight, and thats how were going to win." Locke, Chad Billins, Ben Street, Sven Baertschi and Max Reinhart each had goals for the Heat (35-23-7), who dropped 10 of their past 11 games heading into Saturday, and Aaron Dell made 36 saves for the win. Nathan Beaulieu had the lone goal for the Bulldogs (28-32-5). Dustin Tokarski stopped 19 shots before being replaced to begin the third period. Devan Dubnyk stopped all five shots he faced in relief. Tokarski made an exceptional save to keep the game scoreless 12 minutes into the first period, sliding to his right to deny the Heat in close at his far post. But a night that started so well for the Hamilton goaltender quickly turned sour. Locke, who had set up the previous chance, provided the finish as the Heat opened the scoring at 14:28. Locke moved into the low slot with Kane Lafranchise holding the puck along the boards, and tipped a slap-pass from the defenceman high and past Tokarski. Abbotsford doubled its lead just 19 seconds later, when Billins fired a wrist shot from the point that moved through a screen and surprised Tokarski. The Heat scored their third goal in quick succession at 15:21. Tokarski sprawled to deny Josh Jooris initial shot as the forward crashed the net, but Street was on hand at the post to slot the rebound into the open net. Hamilton head coach Sylvain Lefebvre rued his teams missed opportunities on the power play early in the first period, that could have radically changed the outcome. "We started pretty well, and it would have been nice if our power play had clicked to start the game," he said. "We had some scoring chances as well, but when they scored their first goal on a power play, it deflated us and we had some bad shifts. "Down 3-0 after the first, its tough to get back." Dell worked hard to preserve his shutout bid in the second period. Nick Tarnasky was unguarded in the low slot, but DDell dropped into his butterfly to deny the Hamilton winger from point-blank range six minutes in.dddddddddddd Louis Leblanc was whistled for closing his hand on the puck at 9:22, and Abbotsford quickly extended its lead on the ensuing power play. The combination of Greg Olsen, Derek Smith and Baertschi sprung a three-on-two rush, and after Olsen was turned back, Smith slipped a short pass to Baertschi, who slapped a one-time shot past Tokarski from close range at 10:00 of the second. Dell was forced into action late in period, and kicked aside a tipped shot before recovering to deny another hard wrist shot with his right pad. Teammates have been impressed by the young goaltender, who played just his sixth game for the Heat on Saturday. "Hes played great," said Locke of Dell. "He gave us a chance to win both of these games in Hamilton. We couldnt do it for him on Wednesday, but here he got some run support. "He looks confident in there now, and thats what you want from a goalie." Dubnyk came in to replace Tokarski to begin the third period after Tokarski allowed four goals on 23 shots. Lefebvre argued that his decision to change goaltenders was less an indictment of Tokarskis play than an attempt to re-energize his team. "Sometimes, you try to get the troops going and you use different tactics," he said. "(Tokarski) played really well in the first two games since he came back. Tonight, he didnt make the big saves that we needed, but Im not going to make him the culprit. Thats not the case. "I was thinking that I was going to go with Dubnyk [on Tuesday], so I thought I might as well give him the period to get ready." Dells shutout bid was spoiled at 3:59 of the third. Christian Thomas initial shot from the blue-line hit a Heat defender and bounced to Beaulieu at the left faceoff dot. But with Dell out of position, the defenceman easily fired a shot into the near side of the net. It was a letdown for the Heat, who Locke believed suffered a few sluggish moments despite the win. "We would have liked to keep pushing forward," he said. "We had a few lags and a bad start to the third period. They were all over us until the first timeout, and weve got to figure those sorts of things out. "But we got the two points and we got ourselves out of our slump." Reinhart added an empty-net goal at 19:11. 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