LONDON: Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova take centre stage as Wimbledon gets underway on Monday while Lleyton Hewitt hopes for a long goodbye on his 17th and final appearance at the All England Club.

World number one, top seed and defending champion Djokovic plays his first tournament since Stan Wawrinka ended his latest bid to win a French Open and complete a career Grand Slam in Paris three weeks ago.