Emma Raducanu has drawn against Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck in the first round at Wimbledon, while double champion Andy Murray will play against Australian James Duckworth.
While not disastrous for U.S. Open champion Raducanu, it’s still not the best one can imagine. World No. 46 Van Uytvanck is no stranger to playing high-profile matches at the All England Club. Former quarterfinalist of the French Open, she defeated defending champion Garbine Muguruza here at Wimbledon in 2018 in the second round.
However, Raducanu was lucky to avoid the seemingly unstoppable Iga Swiatek in the top half of the draw. Instead, his first top seed opponent will be American Madison Keys, and he could face Alison Riske or this year’s Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins in the fourth round.
She also avoided the 23-time major champion without seed Serena Williams, who will play French debutant Harmony Tan. He avoided Swiatek’s quarter, but found himself in a loaded section of the draw. If he advances, he could face last year’s finalist Karolina Pliskova in the third round, ahead of Coco Gauff and former champion Simona Halep who are projected opponents.
As for the men, the draw was relatively friendly with Murray, who – like Raducanu – has been managing an abdominal problem. Although he has not played for Duckworth since 2019, he beat him in the previous two clashes. He could face American serving machine John Isner in the second round, and if he reaches the quarterfinals, he could run into first seed Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic will begin his Wimbledon title defense against 75th-ranked South Korean Soonwoo Kwon. In the other half of the draw Rafael Nadal, who is still on his way to a Grand Slam on the calendar, will play with world number 42 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
Notably, the 14 Britons in the singles draw avoided top-seeded players in the first round. However, Paul Jubb was unlucky enough to be chosen to play against Australian Nick Kyrgios, one of the most dangerous headless players floating around the draw. Kyrgios could face world number 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round.
Other highlights of the first round included three-time main champion Stan Wawrinka against 13th world champion Jannik Sinner of Italy.