Serena Williams will end her four-year absence from Wimbledon by playing Australia’s Maya Joint in the first round next week.
The 44-year-old will be playing in her first singles tournament since starting her return to the Tour earlier this month by playing in two doubles events. Williams is a seven-time champion at SW19 and has also finished runner-up on four other occasions. In what will be her 22nd main draw appearance at Wimbledon, a win for Williams could see her play rising star Alexandra Eala in the next round and then defending champion Iga Swiatek in the third.
“I don’t need to win. I’ve won more than most people have in their whole lives. I don’t have anything to lose. Everything is just a gain.” Williams told reporters at the HSBC Championships.
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka will be hoping to get herself back on track after exiting her last two tournaments by losing 6-0 in the final set. The last of those defeats was to Jessica Pegula on grass in Berlin. Wimbledon is the only major event where the Belarusian has yet to reach the final, but she is a three-time semi-finalist.
Sabalenka will open her campaign against Serbia’s Teodora Kostovic, who won three rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw. Later in the tournament, she could play Emma Raducanu in the third round, in what will be a rematch of last year. Although there are currently doubts being cast over Raducanu’s fitness. After that, four-time major champion Naomi Osaka is a potential last 16 opponent. Should Sabalenka capture the title, she will become the first woman since Ash Barty to win the tournament while being the top seed.
Sabalenka’s possible route to final
R1: Kostovic
R2: Oliynykova/Kessler
R3: Raducanu/Ostapenko/Ruzic
R4: Osaka/Fernandez
QF: Andreeva/Muchova
SF: Pegula/Gauff
F: Rybakina/Anisimova/Swiatek et al
2022 champion Elena Rybakina entered the tournament having lost two out of her last three matches at the Tour level. After losing in the third round at The All England Club 12 months ago, the Kazakh has a golden opportunity to gain points and potentially close the gap on Sabalenka in the race to No.1. Rybakina will play former French Open finalist Lois Boisson in the first round, who has been hampered by injury setbacks over the past year.
Iga Swiatek aims to become the first woman since 2016 to win back-to-back titles at Wimbledon. Like Rybakina, her preparation has taken a hit after she lost her opening match in Bad Homburg to Emma Navarro. Her opening match will be against Taylor Towsend, who is a former Wimbledon champion in doubles and a junior singles finalist. She could then face former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova in the second round, who plays Tereza Valentová in her opening match.
Elsewhere, Mirra Andreeva is bidding to become the first WTA player to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since 2015. She will begin against Magda Linette and then could play the 2024 winner Barbora Krejcikova.
The full draw can be seen HERE.
