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Opinion
The draw for this year’s Wimbledon Championships has been released, with some mouthwatering match-ups for the opening round.
With some top seeds drawing tricky opponents and other notable players facing each other, there could be some epic matches and some surprising upsets.
Let’s take a look at the best of the men’s matches to watch out for.
These two players have six Grand Slam finals between them, with the Austrian the only one with a title. Thiem, however, isn’t the player he once was as he recovers from injury, while Stefanos has been in poor form on the grass this season (with only one win from four matches).
Thiem has a 5-4 head-to-head record though they played this year on clay in Madrid with Tsitsipas winning in a third set tiebreaker. The fifth seed should have too much on this surface for Dominic, but it should be an entertaining clash.
The all-British affair should be given a prominent court for a match the locals will love. Andy Murray is a two-time Wimbledon champion while Ryan has played just two matches ever at the tournament. Peniston is no push over though, he defeated world No.37 Ugo Humbert at Queen’s last week and has defeated Casper Ruud and Holger Rune previously on the surface.
Andy has won two Challenger titles on grass this year and although all the pressure should be on him, his experience should show. The winner of this match will take on the victor between Thiem and Tsitsipas in what should be an epic second-round clash.
(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
This is a tough draw for Aussie Max Purcell, who is in a breakout year on the tour. He has reached a career high of No.62 in the world and grass has been a happy hunting ground for him. He won the Wimbledon doubles title last year and in 2021 made the semi-finals of Eastbourne, upsetting Gael Monfils en route.
However, Max has been hampered by an ankle injury which has seen him play just one match on the surface since his second round showing at the French Open.
Although Rublev has yet to go beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon, he does have some solid grass court form. He has made the final of Halle twice, including just two weeks ago where he took out the ‘s-Hertogenbosch champion. The defining factor could be Purcell’s fitness, if he’s recovered he can definitely cause a big upset in the opening days of the tournament.
This is a big danger match for the ninth-seeded American. Taylor has tended to underperform at the slams, only making one quarter-final in his career. That, however, was here at Wimbledon where he lost to Nadal in a fifth-set tiebreaker.
But since then he lost first round at the US Open, second round in Melbourne and third round at Roland Garros. His grass court form has been sub-par, with two wins and three losses in the last few weeks.
On the other hand, Yannick Hanfmann is in career-best form at the ripe old age of 31. He has defeated four Top 20 players this year including a 6-4 6-1 drubbing of Fritz in Rome. He is coming off a semi-final showing on grass in Mallorca where he defeated Tsitsipas along the way.
Taylor has the game to go far at Wimbledon but his biggest test may be this first-round match up. Could go either way.
Goffin and Kyrgios share some similarities: both have been top players of the game, reaching world No.7 and No.13 respectively, both are on the road to recovery after an injury, and both have had Wimbledon success.
David has reached the quarter-finals twice while Nick reached a quarter-final in 2014 before going on to make the final last year. Kyrgios has a 3-1 head-to-head record between the two, but it’s hard to know where each player’s form is.
Nick has played just one match all year, while David has only made one tour level quarter-final and that was in January. Who knows how this is going to go, but you get the feeling it’ll be on Nick’s racket either way.
(Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Those are five best picks of the bunch but other matches to watch out for include:
The all-Italian affair sees Berrettini, the Wimbledon 2021 finalist, take on his occasional doubles partner who thrashed him 6-1 6-2 on grass two weeks ago. Matteo can do anything on this day but is coming back from an injury.
The 19-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils is the only other teenager apart from Alcaraz and Rune to win a title this year. He has come from outside the world top 200 to world No.58 and looks set to climb even higher. Davidovich-Fokina is no mug but grass is not his favourite surface and is coming off first-round losses in his last two tournaments.
Marton was a Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 2021 and takes on the in-form Dutchman, who has won seven tour matches on grass this season including a title win. Tallon should be the favourite but this could go the distance and Marton is more than capable of upsetting the seed.
Aussie Jordan Thompson has been in great grass court form including a final appearance in the Netherlands two weeks ago. His opponent is Brandon Nakashima, who made the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, taking Nick Kyrgios to five sets. It is a tough first-round clash and if Jordan wins, he’ll likely play reigning champion Novak Djokovic in the next round.
The Norwegian French Open finalist has never hid the fact he isn’t a fan of grass, saying it’s “for golf players”. He takes on the French qualifier who has never won a Grand Slam match in his life. Could Laurent cause a huge upset in the opening round?
Will all these turn out to be classics or upsets? Who knows! But Wimbledon is often an unseeded players dream and we should expect the unexpected in the opening days.
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