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Wimbledon 2015 preview, start time, broadcast details and key information

28th June, 2015
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Just when you think Nick Kyrgios has finally started to put it together on the court... (Image: Wikicommons)
Roar Guru
28th June, 2015
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The third Grand Slam of the year is upon us, with Wimbledon starting for the 129th time on Monday at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet club.

Here is all you need to know in what will be a huge two weeks of tennis.

KEY INFORMATION
Venue: All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet club
Players in the draw: 128
Top seeds: Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams
Most wins at Wimbledon: Men – William Renshaw, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras 7; Women – Martina Navratilova 9
Last year’s winners: Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova

TV RIGHTS AND SCHEDULE

Tennis fans are in for a real treat for the next two weeks with Wimbledon. Channel 7 and Fox Sports will both broadcast the event using the multiple channel format so no one misses any of the action.

Fox Sports will have four cameras going, with the red button, so none of the action will be missed over the two weeks of the tournament. They will focus on the Australians with no access to the centre court.

Channel 7, who will show the event on 7Two and the main channel, will have access to all courts throughout the coverage.

They will have access to two exclusive matches each day on the free-to-air network.

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They also plan to show most courts online through 7tennis.com.au and the 7 Tennis app.

You won’t miss a thing this Wimbledon.

For full coverage of the event on Seven, here is a guide to each day of the tournament.

As always check your local guide for details.

How will the Australians go?

Not since 1995, when Australia had 17 compete in singles, have we seen so many Aussies take part in the main draw at Wimbledon.

After qualifying, which saw three Aussies progress into the men’s draw, Australia has 16 represented in the main draw.

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Three of them are seeds; Sam Stosur, Nick Kyrgios, and Bernard Tomic.

All have comfortable first round matches with Stosur facing Danka Kovinic, Kyrgios up against Diego Schwartzman, and Tomic battling Jan-Lennard Struff.

They are due to face seeds Karolina Pliskova, Milos Raonic, and Novak Djokovic respectively in Round 3 should they get that far.

All eyes will be on Nick Kyrgios as he tries to repeat his quarter final appearance from last year.

With no coach, and form and injury issues, people are riding him off already before the tournament has started.

All I’ll say on that is that he battled all of those – except for the coach – in Australia and made the quarters as well.

If he can past the opening two rounds, with ease, then anything could happen. He is scheduled to face Stan Wawrinka in the quarters if he gets that far.

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South Australian duo, Luke Saville and Thanasi Kokkinakis, both face seeds in Richard Gasquet and Leonardo Mayer.

It will be a tough match for Saville to win after qualifying for the event for the second year in a row.

Kokkinakis though could beat Mayer and progress to the third round to face Kevin Anderson.

He is my smoky to go the furthest among the Aussies if he can get past Mayer.

In his final Wimbledon, after getting a wildcard, Lleyton Hewitt faces fellow retiree Jarkko Nieminen in the first round. He could face Novak Djokovic if he progresses past Nieminen.

A centre court appearance, and a respectable performance against the Joker, would be a fitting way to end the Wimbledon journey for the 2002 champion.

Fellow Aussie, Matt Ebden, also received a wildcard into the event and will face Blaz Rola in the opening round.

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Ebden has never won a match at Wimbledon in the main draw and has a glorious chance to do so against his Slovenian opponent. He could then go on to face John Isner in Round 2.

James Duckworth and Marinko Matosevic also have winnable matches against Malek Jaziri and Liam Broady respectively.

With Matosevic spiralling outside of the top 100 in recent weeks, it is a big tournament for him. He has a good shot of reaching the third round as well if he can find form on grass.

Finally there are another three male Aussies in the draw with John Millman, Sam Groth and John-Patrick Smith all involved.

Groth will face Jack Sock, Millman will battle Tommy Robredo, and Smith will be against Kenny De Schepper.

It is the debut appearance in the main draw for Millman and Smith.

All can win on their day if they play at their best. Groth could face Duckworth in the second round if they both win.

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On the ladies side, including Stosur who was mentioned at the top, another five Aussies will compete.

Ajla Tomljanovic will face Klara Koukalova with Casey Dellacqua facing Tamira Paszek. Both are winnable matches for the duo and they could face each other in the third round should they get there.

Fellow Aussies, Daria Gavrilova and Jarmila Gajdosova, face seeds in Irina Camelia-Begu and Sabine Lisicki respectively.

Gavrilova, who has had a stunning 2015, could defeat Begu and go on a run in the tournament. The only thing that will stop her abdominal strain injury.

Gajdosova, who faces a grass court specialist, looks to have a tough time beating Lisicki.

All matches, in some form, will be blogged or live scored right here on The Roar.

PREDICTIONS:
Andy Murray and Serena Williams are my picks for the respective events.

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Murray’s form in 2015 has been almost as good as Djokovic’s and he is back on form on grass after winning Queens.

Djokovic, who faces tough matches in the first three rounds, has had limited preparation on grass and faces a challenge as he looks to go back-to-back after winning last year.

Federer, who is the same half as Murray, could also pose a threat this year but he would have to defeat Tomas Berdych in the quarters.

Berdych, who made the final in 2010, has a habit of beating Federer in Wimbledon.

Others to look out for include Kei Nishikori, Stan Wawrinka, and Rafael Nadal.

If Wawrinka plays like he did at Roland Garros then he is a big chance of winning Wimbledon. I just can’t see him playing at that consistency in England though.

In the women’s draw it is all about Serena Williams.

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If she plays at her best she will win Wimbledon and complete the Grand Slam of titles.

We all know that sometimes she has an off match and loses in a surprise result, and that could also happen with players like Caroline Garcia and Victoria Azarenka in her side of the draw.

She could also play against her sister, Venus, in the fourth round.

Others to look out for include Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep, Lucie Safarova, and Petra Kvitova.

Kvitova, who is the second seed, has a wonderful draw to the semi-final. If Williams gets knocked out early then she would be the next favourite to win the title.

A final between the two is not out of the question.

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