Eight-time champion Roger Federer has been placed in the bottom half of The Championships draw, but will have to potentially overcome Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev if he wishes to reach a 13th Wimbledon final.
The Swiss superstar, who compiled a 101-13 match record at the All England Club since his debut in 1999, will challenge France’s Adrian Mannarino in the first round. Sixth seed Federer, who has beaten Mannarino six times overall — and twice on grass at Wimbledon — could face cinch Championships runner-up Cameron Norrie in the third round.
Federer will be hoping to bounce back from a second-round exit at the NOVENTI OPEN (l. to Auger-Aliassime) as he seeks a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam championship. Should the 39-year-old make a deep run to the quarter-finals, he could look to extend his perfect 3-0 ATP Head2Head record against second seed Medvedev, who is competing this week at the Mallorca Championships.
Popcorn First-Round Matches At A Glance
Medvedev v Struff
Tsitsipas v Tiafoe
Murray v Basilashvili
Kyrgios v Humbert
Korda v De Minaur
Sinner v Fucsovics
Musetti v Hurkacz
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who beat Federer 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3) in a memorable 2019 Wimbledon final, is targetting a third straight crown — and sixth overall — in south-west London. He may need to overcome Stefanos Tsitsipas, the player he beat in the Roland Garros final two weeks ago, or two-time former champion Andy Murray, in the semi-finals.
The 34-year-old Serbian comes into the grass-court major (72-10 record) on the back of capturing his ninth Australian Open trophy (d. Medvedev) and his second in Paris. In winning the Melbourne-Paris title double, he matched his 2016 achievement and was the first player to do so since Jim Courier in 1992. Five years ago, Djokovic fell to Sam Querrey in the Wimbledon third round.
Djokovic will first prepare to challenge British wild card Jack Draper, a recent quarter-finalist at The Queen’s Club, and may then need to beat 2018 finalist Kevin Anderson in the second round at SW19. Fifth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev could be a quarter-final opponent.
Medvedev, who memorably recorded his first Grand Slam match win over Stan Wawrinka at Wimbledon four years ago, faces a tricky opponent in Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, who beat the Russian in the Halle first round last week. Marin Cilic, the 32nd seed and 2017 finalist, who clinched his first ATP Tour crown for three years at the recent MercedesCup in Stuttgart, may be a third-round opponent.
Third seed Tsitsipas, who has won an ATP Tour-best 39 matches in 2021, will be first attempting to improve upon his 3-3 record at the historic major with a first-round win over American Frances Tiafoe. The Greek star is in the same quarter of the draw as eighth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who plays John Millman of Australia. In the same section, 2013 and 2016 champion Murray, competing at Wimbledon for the first time in four years, meets Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round. The former World No. 1 could face Canadian 10th seed Denis Shapovalov in the third round.
Fourth seed Zverev, whose best performance at SW19 came in 2017 when he reached the fourth round (l. to Raonic), takes on Dutch qualifier Tallon Griekspoor in his first match. The recent Roland Garros semi-finalist is projected to meet Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, the 2014 quarter-finalist, who opens his campaign against Halle titlist and 21st seed Ugo Humbert, or Felix-Auger Aliassime in the fourth round. Seventh seed and Queen’s Club winner Matteo Berrettini, 12th seed Casper Ruud of Norway and Russian 20th seed Aslan Karatsev also feature in Zverev’s quarter.
#NextGenATP stars Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti and Sebastian Korda will all be making their main draw debuts at The Championships next week.
Sinner, the 19th seed from Italy, who is in Djokovic’s quarter of the draw, will face Marton Fucsovics in the first round, with ninth-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman a potential third-round opponent. Musetti, who impressed with his fourth-round run at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic), is set to meet Polish 14th seed Hubert Hurkacz, the Miami Open presented by Itau titlist in April.
Korda faces no easy task against Australia’s Alex de Minaur, the cinch Championships and Viking International Eastbourne semi-finalist. Elsewhere, Auger-Aliassime, who advanced to the Wimbledon third round on his debut two years ago, plays Thiago Monteiro of Brazil.
Play begins on Monday at 11am local time. Defending champion Djokovic will open Centre Court play against Draper from 1:30pm.
Source Tennis – ATP World Tour
