Emma Raducanu has tied one of the toughest opponents in the first round who could have faced Wimbledon in the form of Alison Van Uytvanck, while Andy Murray and Serena Williams had favorable starting matches.
Raducanu’s participation still depends on having recovered enough from a lateral tension suffered at the start of the turf season, while Van Uytvanck is an experienced and experienced turf player, with good service, a solid right and a full track game. In 2018, the Belgian defeated Wimbledon defending champion Garbine Muguruza on her way to the fourth round.
Since the start of this turf season, Van Uytvanck has won the $ 100,000 Surbiton tournament and the WTA 125 event in Gaiba, Italy, as well as a quarter-final at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Her only turf defeats this year have reached the third set tie-breaks against world No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 25 Amanda Anisimova this week in Bad Homburg.
As he continues to recover from the side injury he suffered in the first game of his turf season at Nottingham, Raducanu will train on track number 1 while Wimbledon continues its new initiative to allow players to break into the upper tracks to reduce the chances. of competitors who fell in the initial rounds.
Murray will open his campaign against 77th-placed Australian James Duckworth. If he is in good shape, it is a match that will have a good chance of winning. Duckworth has missed his last nine games in the ATP main draw and has missed four months this season due to injury. Current champion Novak Djokovic begins his quest for a seventh title against South Korean Kwon Soon-woo, while second-seeded Rafael Nadal, who is due to make his first appearance at Wimbledon since 2019, it faces the Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo while the Spaniard tries to gain his third party. consecutive Grand Slam title.
Williams can have no problem with his draw, having received a decent starting round that should allow him to find his rank after a year away. Harmony Tan is extremely inexperienced on the field and at the highest level of professional tennis. He has lost seven of his last eight main draw matches on the tour and had only played on grass for the first time at Wimbledon last year.
A possible second-round match against the never-ending Sara Sorribes Tormo would probably be an important test of Williams’ rally tolerance after such a long layoff, but the Spaniard’s lack of weapons can be exposed on the court. faster. Meanwhile, sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova could face Williams in the third round. Pliskova has been in terrible shape this year after undergoing hand surgery during the off-season, compiling an 8-10 record in 2022. She will look to rediscover the form that sent her to the end of the year. past.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, will start against qualifier Jana Fett as she seeks to extend her winning streak to 36 games.