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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." Javier Baez Jersey .ca NBA Power Rankings. Winners of 15 straight, with a healthy roster, the Spurs have overtaken the Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder for the number one ranking. Kosuke Fukudome Jersey . With newly minted president of hockey operations Trevor Linden looking on from above one day after being handed the keys to the franchise, it was more of the same on Thursday night. http://www.thecubsteamshop.com/Cubs-Carlos-Zambrano-Kids-Jersey/ . Nikolaos Kounenakis has been hired as an assistant coach, the team announced on Monday. Mike Montgomery Jersey Custom Chicago Cubs Jerseys . -- Kenneth Faried made a turnaround hook shot over Draymond Green with a half-second remaining, and the Denver Nuggets made Golden State wait at least one more game to secure a playoff berth with a stunning 100-99 win over the Warriors on Thursday night. PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- They slowed it down to a crawl in the beginning, then went as fast as they could at the end. An unconventional night for Texas-El Paso nearly led to the Miners getting a huge upset. Down by 14 with 2:21 left, the Miners went on a frantic closing spurt that fell just short, and UTEP was beaten by No. 2 Kansas 67-63 on Saturday night in the third-place game at the Battle 4 Atlantis. "Let me just say that we got beat by a fine team tonight," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "And theyre going to do a lot of things, I think, in the NCAA tournament this year." McKenzie Moore scored 15 for UTEP (4-4), including three free throws with 6.8 seconds remaining to get the Miners within three. Justin Crosgile scored 14 points and Vince Hunter added 10 the Miners, who held Kansas to 39 per cent shooting. "I was real pleased with the effort," Floyd said. Perry Ellis scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half, Wayne Selden Jr. scored 14 and Joel Embiid came off the bench to add nine points, seven blocked shots -- all in the second half-- and six rebounds for the Jayhawks (6-1), who will likely drop from the No. 2 spot in the national rankings this coming week. Still, the Jayhawks will likely be on everybodys list of must-watch teams come March, and that gives Floyd plenty of hope for the Miners season. "We have a long ways to go to become a good basketball team," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "And thats not all bad, either. We rarely have great teams in November. But were not as good as we were 17, 18 days ago. So thats a little frustrating that weve gone backwards. We didnt play well at all over here." Naadir Tharpe added 11 for the Jayhawks, who never trailed. The Jayhawks won despite Andrew Wiggins being held to six points, nearly 10 below the freshmans season average. It was the second straight night where Kansas saw a big early lead, 11-2 against Villanova and 15-2 against UTEP, evaporate and the game turn into a struggle. The finish saw UTEP scoring 13 points in just over a minute and carving away most of a late 14-point Jayhawk lead, but Kansas had enough. Barely, but enough. And if UTEP had been better from the line, it miight have been a different story -- the Miners missed 10 of 24 tries from the stripe.dddddddddddd Kansas led by 15 in the second half, and after a series of UTEP rallies, the Jayhawks were still up by 14 following Ellis jumper from the right wing with 2:21 left. It was 59-45 at that point. It was 18-8 UTEP the rest of the way, a far cry from how the Miners started the night. On UTEPs first possession, Floyd -- who isnt exactly shy about going against convention, with his box-and-one and triangle-and-two defences on display often in the Bahamas -- did something hardly ever seen anymore, especially at the start of games. He stalled, though said afterward that it wasnt a true stall, just a set with hopes of creating 3-on-2 mismatches or open drives. Think the old North Carolina "four corners," or something akin to it, anyway. Thats what the Miners did in the opening minutes, running an average of 30.1 seconds off the 35-second shot clock on their first nine possessions. Simple logic, really -- the fewer possessions Kansas had, the fewer chances it would have to score. It only sort of worked. After 5 1/2 minutes, Kansas had only two points. In that same span, the Miners had zero points. "It was different ... but I thought we adjusted well," Ellis said. The Miners missed their first six shots and didnt get on the board until 12:35 remained in the half, a drive by C.J. Cooper snapping an 0 for 6 start by UTEP and cutting Kansas lead to 7-2. By the time UTEP scored again, Kansas had already pushed the lead out to 15-2, running off eight straight. And along the way, UTEP ditched the ploy and just started playing. Thats when it became a game, for really the first time. UTEP went on an 18-11 spurt, getting within 26-20 late in the half. Wiggins -- who had been scoreless until then -- scored six straight to give Kansas a 12-point lead with 1:30 left, and Seldens acrobatic drive gave the Jayhawks a 34-25 lead at the break. But UTEP hung around, all the way to the end. "We didnt want to leave here without getting better for the rest of the season," Hunter said. "I believe we did. I believe we got better, playing the No. 2 team in the country." ' ' '