For Venus Williams, returning to Wimbledon as defending champion allows her to enjoy a luxury she cannot get at any other tournament.
Having chosen a career in which her routine is set on a day-to-day basis by various tournament officials, she particularly savours the tradition at the All England Club where the defending women's champion opens Centre Court proceedings on the first Tuesday of the tournament.
As a result, the moment she picked up her fourth Wimbledon crown on July 7, 2007, she was already looking forward to playing her next match at the grasscourt grand slam on June 24, 2008 at 2 p.m.
"Coming out as defending champion is definitely more special here. I'm just excited to be playing on Tuesday and taking it from there," the American told Reuters in an interview.
"It's always fantastic as usually everything's up in the air and (I'm) waiting to see when will I play.
"So (here) it's not up in the air for me. I know exactly when I'll be playing and I can be prepared and ready."
Williams returns to her favourite stomping ground this year determined to add a fifth Wimbledon title to her collection.
Twelve months ago, the American broke her own record of being the lowest seed to win the women's title in London.
When she captured the title in 2005, she was seeded 14th. Last year she was an even more of a longshot for the title as the 23rd seed.
While this year she cannot improve on that mark as she is ranked seventh on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, she is eager to join a selected handful of players, including Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf, who have won at least five singles titles at the citadel of grasscourt tennis.
"I definitely enjoyed the last 52 weeks as Wimbledon champ, and now I've got to do it again so that I can enjoy the next 52 weeks," grinned Williams.
"I think my chances are good and I just have to play well. There's no magic equation, I just have to play well. That's my aim."
The 28-year-old has not enjoyed the most successful of seasons so far. Since winning a low-key event in Seoul last September, she has not stepped back into the winner's circle.
Despite the lean spell, she has again stuck to a tried and tested formula of not playing in any grasscourt events in the run-up to Wimbledon.
"I made my decisions on what is best for me and I haven't played a warm-up in 10 years and it's been pretty good for me," said Williams, who also won the title in 2000 and 2001.
So high is her confidence, Williams knows that when she takes centre stage on Tuesday her serves will once again be cutting through the slick grass and her groundstrokes, so ineffective on red clay, will strike fear in most opponents.
With her first round challenger being Naomi Cavaday, the 199th-ranked British wildcard will probably do well to avoid the dreaded whitewash.
Although getting her hands on the Rosewater Dish is her priority over the next fortnight, Williams hopes another title run will cement her place among the elite after her ranking took a nosedive during 2006.
"I'm hoping not to be so lowly ranked again because I do enjoy being in the top 10 and it's always a nice privilege to be in the top 10. But ultimately I just have to play well."
Eastbourne final: (women) Radwanska beat Petrova 6-4 6-7 6-4.