One year ago, Serena Williams left Centre Court in tears, as she was forced to retire after just six games of her first round match due to a leg injury. On Tuesday, she returns to Centre Court in what will be her first singles match since that emotional moment.
Also on Tuesday, Rafael Nadal begins his quest for a third consecutive Major title. After winning both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, he now owns 22 Slam titles, two more than both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. And for the second straight year, one of “The Big Three” arrives at SW19 halfway to the calendar year Grand Slam.
Other top names playing their opening round matches on Day 2 include Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek, RG runner-up Coco Gauff, Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini, as well as Wimbledon champions Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, and Petra Kvitova. With 10 matches postponed from Monday due to rain, and six more to be concluded, Tuesday will be an extremely busy day, as 80 singles matches are scheduled around the grounds of The All England Club.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s five most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Tuesday’s play begins at 11:00am local time.
Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Jana Fett (Q) – 1:30pm on Centre Court
In the absence of the defending women’s singles champion Ash Barty, Swiatek has been selected to open Centre Court play on Day 2. And it has now been over four months since Iga has lost a match. The definitive world No.1 is on a 35-match win streak, and is coming off her second Major title in Paris. However, Swiatek remains an unproven commodity on grass. She’s only 4-4 lifetime on this surface. Three of those four victories came last year during this event, when she advanced to the fourth round and lost to Ons Jabeur in three sets. Fett is a 25-year-old whose most memorable tennis moment is unfortunately a painful one. At the 2018 Australian Open, she was up 5-1 in the third over eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki, yet failed to convert two match points and eventually lost 7-5. Jana will be a huge underdog in her first meeting with Iga, who has rarely been challenged in 2022.
Simona Halep (16) vs. Karolina Muchova – Second on No.1 Court
After missing last year’s tournament due to injury, this will be Halep’s first match at The Championships since defeating Serena Williams in the 2019 final. And she faces perhaps the toughest draw any seeded player has been presented in the opening round. Muchova has reached the quarterfinals in both of her previous appearances at The Championships. She also was a semifinalist at the 2021 Australian. Karolina missed the first few months of this season due to injury, yet despite the lack of play, upset Maria Sakkari at Roland Garros. Yet in the very next round, injury again struck Muchova, as she rolled her ankle and was forced to retire in tears against Amanda Anisimova. She seemed to recover quickly, as she was back on court two weeks ago in Berlin, where she lost her only grass court tune-up match to Ons Jabeur. Halep is a solid 26-8 on the year, and went 6-2 this month on grass, achieving two semifinals. Her partnership with Patrick Mouratoglou is yet to pay significant dividends, but perhaps that is about to change, as Patrick knows all about coaching players to Wimbledon titles. Halep and Muchova have never played before, which makes this match all the more unpredictable. But based on recent form, I give Simona the slight edge to provide Karolina with her first early-round loss at The Championships.
Rafael Nadal (2) vs. Francisco Cerundolo – Second on Centre Court
This will be Nadal’s first match at Wimbledon, and first match on grass, in three years. But the last two times he played at The Championships, Rafa reached the semifinals, where he was stopped by players name Djokovic and Federer. After requiring injections to his injured foot before every match he played at Roland Garros, Nadal has stated his foot is feeling much better heading into this fortnight. Cerundolo was a shocking semifinalist at this year’s Miami Open, which was the first ATP event not played on clay where Francisco ever won a match. Since that run, the 23-year-old has struggled mightily, with a 2-5 record. An upset over Nadal on Tuesday would be startling, though all eyes will be on how comfortable Rafa looks on his injured foot.
Felix Auger-Aliassime (6) vs. Maxime Cressy – Third on No.3 Court
Auger-Aliassime made a Major breakthrough at this tournament a year ago, defeating Sascha Zverev in five sets to reach his first Major quarterfinal. But on Tuesday, he faces a challenging first round opponent in Cressy. The 25-year-old advanced to the fourth round of this year’s Australian Open, and is coming off a title run on grass two weeks ago in Eastbourne, where he beat three top 20 players (Opelka, Norrie, Fritz). His serve-and-volley style is a perfect fit for this surface. And we’ve seen Felix play tightly early on in Majors, including just last month when he lost the first two sets of his opening round in Paris to a player ranked outside the top 100. With the Canadian’s good friend Hubi Hurkacz getting upset on Monday, a similar upset on Tuesday of a player who went deep at this event a year ago feels fully possible.
Harmony Tan vs. Serena Williams (WC) – Third on Centre Court
It is quite startling to see Serena Williams as a wild card. But the former multi-time world No.1 finds herself without a ranking after not competing for a full year. She played two doubles matches last week in Eastbourne with Ons Jabeur, though this match will be much more revealing regarding her status as a contender to secure her 24th Major singles title. Serena has said she enjoyed not training for much of the past year, partially due to injury, though she’s surely confident in her physical conditioning if she entered this singles draw. Tan is a 24-year-old ranked 113th in the world, and is only 2-6 lifetime in the main draw of Majors. And Harmony has never won a tour-level match on grass. This is as kind of a draw an unseeded Serena could ask for, and should enable her to earn her first singles victory since last year’s Roland Garros.
Other Notable Matches on Tuesday:
Matteo Berrettini (8) vs. Cristian Garin – The 2021 finalist is an undefeated 9-0 on grass this season, coming off titles at both Stuttgart and Queen’s Club. By contrast, Garin is 0-2 this season on this surface, and is 5-8 lifetime. Matteo leads their head-to-head 2-1.
Coco Gauff (11) vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse – Gauff followed up her run to the final of Roland Garros with a semifinal run on grass in Berlin. Ruse is a 24-year-old who captured a WTA title on clay last July.
Petra Kvitova (25) vs. Jasmine Paolini – On Saturday, Kvitova claimed her first title in over a year in Eastbourne. Paolini is a 26-year-old Italian who won her first WTA title last September in Slovenia. Petra has taken both their prior encounters in straight sets.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (4) vs. Alexander Ritschard (Q) – Tsitsipas is only 3-4 at The Championships, though he won a grass court title on Saturday in Mallorca. Ritschard is a 28-year-old making his main draw debut at a Major.
Garbine Muguruza (9) vs. Greet Minnen – After winning the 2021 WTA Finals, Muguruza has struggled with her form and injury. The 2017 champion is only 8-11 on the year. Minnen is a 24-year-old who reached the third round of last year’s US Open.
Taylor Fritz (11) vs. Lorenzo Musetti – Fritz was a champion on Saturday in Eastbourne. Musetti is a 20-year-old Italian who is 0-2 on grass in 2022.
Bianca Andreescu vs. Emina Bektas (Q) – Andreescu is vying for her first win at The Championships. Bektas is a 29-year-old looking for her first main draw win at any Major.
Sloane Stephens vs. Qinwen Zheng – Stephens was a quarterfinalist here nine years ago. Qinwen was the only player to take a set off Swiatek at the French Open. Two months ago in Charleston, Zheng defeated Sloane 6-0 in the third.
Denis Shapovalov (13) vs. Arthur Rinderknech – Shapovalov was a semifinalist a year ago, but arrives at SW19 on a five-match losing streak. Rinderknech reached a final in Adelaide to start the season, and won a Challenger title on clay a few weeks ago. And in Doha, Arthur upset Denis 6-4, 6-4.
Tuesday’s full Order of Play is here.
