June 25, (THEWILL) – The draws for the men’s and women’s matches at the All-England Club tennis completion which kicks off on Monday, June 28 has pitched some interesting meets to look forward to like the opening match of returning British player Andy Murray, who is set to start his return against Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Murray is returning to a major in his home country and making it to the first round of Wimbledon after four whole years away from the grass courts of SW19 due to injury and the complete cancellation of the 2020 Wimbledon because of the pandemic.
Just like the two-time Wimbledon champion, another returnee is Wimbledon favourite Roger Federer. The Swiss, who has won the All-England competition eight times, is drawn against world number 42 Adrian Mannarino, which on paper appears a good draw. Although Federer holds a 6-0 head-to-head record against the Frenchman, his return to competitive tennis has not been smooth for him.
For defending champion and top seed, Novak Djokovic, there will be nothing short of light work against Britain’s wildcard, 19-year-old Jack Draper while British number one tennis player, Dan Evans, will play Feliciano Lopez with the Spaniard winning their one previous meeting at the 2016 Australian Open.
The number two home player, Cameron Norrie, who lost last week’s final of Queen’s to Matteo Berrettini, will take on France’s Lucas Pouille and Liam Broady is drawn against Italy’s Marco Cecchinato. Meanwhile, in his first competition since the Australian Open in February, Nick Kyrgios will face Halle Open winner Ugo Humbert.
Unlike the draws for the last major at Roland Garros, the two masters of Federer and Djokovic are in different halves of the draw. This implies that the earliest they could meet in the Championships is the final, if both players make it that far.
For the women’s draw, 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams returns to pursue her goal to add to her tally of slams with an opener against on Aliaksandra Sasnovich. 2017 semi-finalist
Johanna Konta will take on Katerina Siniakova and could potentially face top seed Ashleigh Barty in the third round.
The Australian world number one female tennis player, Barty, has been drawn against Carla Suarez Navarro while 20-year-old wildcard Fran Jones will face 17-year-old Coco Gauff of America. Jones was knocked out of the first round at the Australian Open this year.
In the second round of matches, Heather Watson will face either Petra Kvitova or Sloane Stephens if she beats a qualifier in the opening round of the English Slam.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
