Alcaraz debuts against Struff, Badosa against Chirico and Muguruza against Minnen
MADRID, 24 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal will debut with the Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo on Tuesday in the first round of the Wimbledon tournament, the third ‘Grand Slam’ of the season, while the main favorite and defending champion, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, will do so against the South Korean Soonwoo Kwon.
The Balkan and the Balearic, first and second seeded respectively in the absence of number one and number two in the world, the Russian Daniil Medvedev -for the tournament veto against Russian and Belarusian tennis players- and the German Alexander Zverev -for an ankle injury-, they would be avoided until a hypothetical final.
Nadal, who will go to the bottom of the table, will meet Cerúndolo, number 42 in the world, in his debut, while in the second round he could meet the American Sam Querrey or the Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis and in the third, with the Italian Lorenzo Sonego .
In the round of 16, the Croatian Marin Cilic or the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp could be his opponents before facing a hypothetical quarter-final with the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime. The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas or the Italian Mattel Berrettini would wait in the semifinals before the grand final.
Meanwhile, Djokovic, who defends the crown and is looking for his seventh win at the All England Club, will play this Monday against Kwon before facing a fairly affordable draw until the quarterfinals, where he could meet Carlos Alcaraz.
The Murcian, number seven in the world, will debut on Monday against the German Jan-Lennard Struff. The Italian Fabio Fognini could await him in the second round and the also German Oscar Otte in the third, while the transalpine Jannik Sinner or the American John Isner would be his rivals in the round of 16 before the great challenge against Djokovic. The Pole Hubert Hurkacz or the Norwegian Casper Ruud -finalist at Roland Garros- could be the rivals of the Serbian or the one from Mazarrón in the semis.
Among the rest of the Spaniards, Pablo Carreño will make his debut in London against Serbian Dusan Lajovic; Roberto Bautista against the Hungarian Attila Balazs; Alejandro Davidovich before the Pole Hubert Hurkacz; Albert Ramos against the Norwegian Casper Ruud; Pedro Martínez against the Slovakian Alex Molcan; Jaume Munar against the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro; Roberto Carballés against the Australian Jordan Thompson; Bernabé Zapata against the American Jack Sock; Carlos Taberner against the American Reilly Opelka; Pablo Andújar against the British Cameron Norrie; and Fernando Verdasco against the American Tommy Paul.
BADOSA AND MUGURUZA, UNPUBLISHED DEBUTS
In the women’s draw, Paula Badosa, who is currently fourth in the WTA ranking, will try to forget her early elimination in Eastbourne with a victory against the American Louisa Chirico, number 227 in the world and against whom she has never played.
In the round of 16 she could meet fellow American Cori Gauff, while in the quarterfinals she could have a confrontation with the Czech Karolina Pliskova. In the semifinals, she would be awaited by the number one in the world, the Polish Iga Swiatek, although she could also face Garbiñe Muguruza.
The Spanish-Venezuelan, who won Wimbledon in 2017, will debut against the Belgian Greet Minnen, in the first clash between the two, and along the way she would run into the American Jessica Pegula, in the round of 16, or the Polish Swiatek, in the quarterfinals.
Sara Sorribes from Castellón and Nuria Párrizas from Granada will face their first matches against the Americans Christina Mchale and Claire Liu, respectively, and Barcelona’s Rebeka Masarova, against the British Harriet Dart.