Roger Federer was happy to leave Wimbledon's main stage unscathed after opening his 2016 Championships with a straight-sets win.
The Swiss - a seven-time winner here - saw his run of 65 successive grand slam appearances halted by a back injury ahead of the French Open.
But the 34-year-old has worked tirelessly to regain fitness for the tournament he has grown synonymous with and after edging two tie-breaks, secured a 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 victory over Guido Pella.
"It felt great, walking out I told myself how nice it was to be back," he said afterwards.
"I have worked hard since February, my hope was to be here fully fit. It was what I needed and I am happy to be here."
Federer arrived at Wimbledon as a long-priced third favourite behind Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
But that he hit his 4,000th Wimbledon winner during the match - the first player to do so at the event - gave a reminder of his enduring class.
"There is always pressure," he said, ahead of a second-round meeting with British breakthrough Marcus Willis.
It looked as though defending champion Djokovic may not lose a game at all as he reeled off nine in a row against Great Britain's James Ward, before the Londoner mounted a semblance of a comeback.
He took the second set to a tie-break but Djokovic then saw things out 6-0 7-6 (7/3) 6-4.
"The first part of the match was almost flawless, so I'm very pleased with the way I started Wimbledon," he said.
The numbers behind Djokovic's first grass-court win of the season... #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/txE8UErUR7
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 27, 2016
Beneath those two there was a shock exit for the 17th seed Gael Monfils who lost an all-French affair to Jeremy Chardy, while Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber was the first seed to fall.
The 32-year-old, competing in his 12th straight Wimbledon, fell in four sets to Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the US Open doubles champion.
A 7-5 6-3 3-6 6-3 defeat for Kohlschreiber not only means an early exit but also that he has gone home in the first round of all three grand slams in 2016.
The ninth-ranked Marin Cilic had no such worries and looked impressive after shaking off doubts about a first-round exit.
The former US Open winner was dumped out of the French at the first-round stage last month by Marco Trungelliti and the ninth seed was minded not to suffer a similar outcome in London.
He avoided it with some ease, beating American Brian Baker 6-3 7-5 6-3 on Court 12.
"I'm feeling pretty confident at the moment," said Cilic, who sent down 18 aces en route to victory.
"You know, today was definitely a bit of an uncomfortable match for me. I lost in the first round in Paris, so I had a little bit of that in the back of my mind."
Spain's David Ferrer was impressive as he beat Dudi Sela on Court Three.
The highest-ranked Spaniard owing to Rafael Nadal's absence, Ferrer dropped only four games as he won 6-2 6-1 6-1.
Japan's Kei Nishikori, the fifth seed, also looked good as he beat Sam Groth 6-4 6-3 7-5.
Away from Ward, there were mixed fortunes for some of the other Brits in the field.
Kyle Edmund lost 6-2 7-5 6-4 to Adrian Mannarino, but Dan Evans was a four-set winner over Jan-Lennard Struff.
Willis - the world 772 who nearly quit the game earlier this year - beat Ricardas Berankis in straight sets. Brydan Klein and Alexander Ward lost to Nicolas Mahut and David Goffin respectively.
Ivo Karlovic went to a tie-break for the 25th and 26th times this season, winning them both and taking his yearly tally to 14 as he won an all-Croatian battle with Borna Coric.
Grigor Dimitrov looked in fine touch as he arrested a six-match losing run against Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3 6-4 6-2 and will next meet the 16th-ranked Gilles Simon who beat Janko Tipsarevic in four sets.
Forty-six aces were sent down as Sam Querrey went the distance with Lukas Rosol, 33 of them from the American's racket. He lost the first two sets on tie-breaks but recovered 6-4 6-2 12-10.
Denis Istomin saw off Kevin Anderson, the 24th seed, 29th seed Pablo Cuevas was beaten in five by Andrey Kuznetsov and there were wins for Jack Sock and Thomaz Bellucci.
