Ryan Peniston “almost crashed” his car after learning he would face Andy Murray in the first round at Wimbledon.

The 27-year-old will be only the second British player Murray has met in his many Wimbledon campaigns after beating Liam Broady in the opening match of his second title run in 2016.

Peniston was driving in Wandsworth on Friday morning when his coach told him the news, and the 27-year-old said: “I was literally just driving from my girlfriend’s.

“I had a text from my coach, Mark. He just said, ‘Andy!’. It’s pretty cool. I almost crashed. I was pretty pumped.

“I know Andy pretty well. We’ve become friends and we’ve practised quite a lot together. He’s a good guy.

“I grew up watching him, especially here. So it’s pretty special. I actually remember when he won it (in 2013), I was playing in Ilkley. They had it up on the big screen. I remember watching it and everyone was crowded around and it was a special moment.”

It would a big surprise if the clash is not scheduled on Centre Court on Tuesday, which would be the biggest occasion of Peniston’s career.

“I’ve got to try and prepare for it,” he said. “I’ve never gone through that before. I think going out on Queen’s centre court might be a little bit similar so I can take some things from that. I will just try and go out there, get ready for it and give it my all.”

Peniston’s only previous experience of Centre Court has been as a fan watching from the stands.

“I came and watched (Grigor) Dimitrov, I’m sure he played (Richard) Gasquet on Centre,” he said. “Then I watched Heather (Watson) in her epic match against Serena (Williams). I was there and screaming on the side.”

The left-hander, who overcame cancer as a very young child, earned a lot of home support last year with a breakthrough season on the grass, reaching quarter-finals at Queen’s Club and Eastbourne, beating Casper Ruud and Holger Rune, before securing a first victory at Wimbledon.

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This year has been more of a struggle but he had another good win at Queen’s, knocking out top-40 Frenchman Ugo Humbert.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty special experience to go out there onto Centre Court and play, against Andy as well,” said Peniston, who is an ambassador for Young Lives vs Cancer.

“For my family, I hope they enjoy it as well because they’ve sacrificed a lot for me to get here. Hopefully it will be a special day. I’m going to do my best to treat it like any other match.

“I’ve got to step out onto any court thinking there’s a chance I can win. I’m going to do that. I take into account that Andy’s an amazing tennis player, he’s won here twice. We know each other’s games pretty well from practising quite a lot. It’s going to be a good test.

“Hopefully the crowd is going to be loud, that would be pretty cool. But I’m not going to be surprised if the crowd are chanting Andy’s name.”

Andy Murray will take on fellow British player Ryan Peniston in the first round of Wimbledon.

The two-time former champion successfully avoided a seed and will be heavily favoured to beat wild card Peniston, who is ranked 267.

It is only the second time Murray has played a fellow countryman at the All England Club, with the Scot beating Liam Broady in the first round in 2016 before claiming his second title.

Things then get much tougher, with the winner of that clash taking on either fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or former US Open champion Dominic Thiem, although neither is particularly comfortable on grass.

There were daunting assignments handed to the two young British debutants – 20-year-old Arthur Fery will play third seed Daniil Medvedev while 22-year-old George Loffhagen meets sixth seed Holger Rune.

British number one Cameron Norrie will open against Czech qualifier Tomas Machac but has his work cut out to match last year’s run to the semi-finals.

He is seeded to meet talented young American Sebastian Korda, who he lost to at Queen’s Club last week, in the third round, while he is in the same section as Murray and Tsitsipas.

As the top two seeds, heavy favourites Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz cannot meet until the final.

Djokovic, who is bidding to equal two major records with his eighth Wimbledon title and 24th grand slam trophy, opens against Argentina’s Pedro Cachin and should be happy with his draw.

Nick Kyrgios is lurking in his quarter a year on from their final meeting but there are major question marks over his fitness, with the Australian having only played one match this year following knee surgery.

Alcaraz, who is yet to go beyond the fourth round but showed his quick progression on grass by winning at Queen’s, will face veteran Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in his opening match.

Dan Evans, who is seeded 27th, faces France’s Quentin Halys first up while British wild cards Liam Broady and Jan Choinski meet Constant Lestienne and Dusan Lajovic, respectively.

The women’s draw saw a host of strong grass-court performers, including defending champion Elena Rybakina, last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur and second seed Aryna Sabalenka, placed in the bottom half.

Also in amongst them is British number one Katie Boulter. The 26-year-old looks to have a decent first-round draw against Australian Daria Saville, who is coming back from knee surgery, but could play Rybakina in the third round.

Top seed Iga Swiatek will play China’s Zhu Lin on Monday and faces a race to be fit after pulling out of her scheduled semi-final in Bad Homburg on Friday through illness.

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Two standout draws saw two high-profile wild cards, 43-year-old Venus Williams and former world number three Elina Svitolina, paired together, while seventh seed Coco Gauff will play former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who had to come through qualifying.

Svitolina reached the quarter-finals of the French Open in her first grand slam tournament following the birth of daughter Skai in October.

Of the other British players, three drew seeds – Heather Watson, who reached the fourth round last year, plays former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, Katie Swan meets 14th seed Belinda Bencic and Sonay Kartal takes on 25th seed Madison Keys.

Harriet Dart and Jodie Burrage fared better – the former drawing France’s Diane Parry and the latter American Caty McNally.

Play begins at the All England Club on Monday.