In the first round of the 2022 Wimbledon Championship, Emma Raducanu will face Alison Van Uytvanck, while Andy Murray will encounter James Duckworth after avoiding a seeded opponent.
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Raducanu, who won the U.S. Open two years ago, is seeded 10th for the draw and faces Belgian Van Uytvanck in her first match. Their last meeting was in Chicago last year, and Raducanu won, but Van Uytvanck is currently ranked 46 worldwide, making her a more challenging opponent.
It was a better draw for Murray. Duckworth, who ranks 77 globally, remains without a win on the ATP Tour. Murray has defeated Duckworth twice in their previous meetings and will likely face American John Isner in the second round.
Tough challenges for Murray
Two-time champion Murray will play Duckworth in the opening round of Wimbledon. The game against Duckworth will be Murray’s first match next week after being hampered by an abdominal injury before the Grand Slam.
Following that, he will play John Isner and Jannik Sinner in the rounds of 64 and 32, respectively. Despite flushing these obstacles, he will face young talent Carlos Alcaraz in the round of 32, so the competition won’t be easy for him. In grass, Alcaraz is considered as one of the favorites as he has consistently performed well.
Assuming Murray defeats Alcaraz, he will take on the defending champion Novak Djokovic. The Serb has won 25-11 of their 36 head-to-head meetings against each other.
With the 2020 championships canceled, Djokovic will compete for his seventh Wimbledon victory and fourth consecutive title after winning the championships in 2018 and 2019. This year at the ATP Masters Championship in Madrid, the two were supposed to meet. But Murray backed out due to illness.
There is a possibility that the 36-year-old will face either World No.5 Casper Ruud or World No.10 Hubert Hurkacz in the semifinals. Lastly, Murray may get an opportunity to relive his past by facing Rafael Nadal. Alternatively, Murray will likely meet Matteo Berrettini or Stefanos Tsitsipas, the runners-up from last year.
Raducanu under pressure to play
Van Uytvanck will be Raducanu’s opponent at Wimbledon in the first round. For the U.S. Open champion, this is far from an easy draw. Although Raducanu will take on one of the tougher opening rounds on his first appearance at Wimbledon since winning the U.S. Open last September, all 17 British players avoided seeds in the main draw.
Earlier this month, Raducanu suffered a blow to her Wimbledon preparations when she had to step down from her first-round match in Nottingham against Viktorija Golubic. Following her withdrawal from the WTA event in Birmingham, the British number one did not appear in Eastbourne either. Her grass-court tennis experience ends less than a week before Wimbledon.
The withdrawal of Raducanu from Friday’s practice session with Garbine Muguruza raised concerns about her recovery. As she settles into life as a full-time professional, she acknowledges that she did things backward by winning a Grand Slam at such an early stage.
“For that to happen very soon definitely comes with a lot of challenges,” said Raducanu. “But managing, learning and growing through the adversities that I have faced, I would much rather have that, learn from those experiences and keep building and progressing.”
Meanwhile, in other news, Serena Williams’ first tournament appearance since Wimbledon was against Harmony Tan, an unseeded player. She began her comeback this week by playing doubles with Ons Jabeur in Eastbourne and received a wildcard for the main draw, avoiding the top seeds.