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London • After a week filled by a headline-grabbing, off-court tiff with Maria Sharapova and a series of apologies stemming from a magazine profile, Serena Williams got back to doing what she does best.

Better than anyone in the world right now, really.

Extending her winning streak to 32 matches, the longest single-season run on the women's tour since 2000, Williams began her bid for a sixth Wimbledon championship and 17th Grand Slam title overall with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over 92nd-ranked Mandy Minella of Luxembourg on Tuesday.

"You can call her pretty much unbeatable," Minella said. "She's playing better than ever. ... Every time she steps on court, you can see why."

And yet Williams, the defending champion at the All England Club, and Patrick Mouratoglou, the French coach who's been helping her during the current 75-3 stretch that dates to the start of Wimbledon last year, both gave this assessment: There are areas of her game that could use some fine-tuning.

"After today, there's so many ways that I can improve," the No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Williams said, "and that I'm going to need to improve if I want to be in the second week of this tournament."

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic also opened with a straight-sets victory, beating Florian Mayer of Germany 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Mayer is a two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist, losing to Djokovic at that stage last year. But he was never in danger of springing another stunner following Rafael Nadal's first-round exit a day earlier.

Djokovic took a 3-0 lead in the first set and broke for a 6-5 lead in the second to take control. He served out the match to love before saluting the crowd with a fist pump.

"It was a big pleasure again performing here on Centre Court in front of the packed crowd," Djokovic said. "For the first round, it was tricky. ... I think [Mayer's] game is really well suited for grass, so it took a lot of effort." —

Tuesday's highlights

O No. 1-ranked Serena Williams tops No. 92-ranked Mandy Minella, 6-1, 6-3.

• Novak Djokovic also wins in straight sets, beating Florian Mayer.