The Wimbledon fortnight is finally upon us, and with it comes strawberries and cream, the legendary queue, royal fans and, lest we forget, tennis. Lots and lots of tennis.
Play gets underway on Monday, and with it an impressive schedule packed with many of the sports’ biggest names taking the court.
Both Serena and Venus Williams open play at their favorite Grand Slam on Monday, as well as Roger Federer, Caroline Wozniacki, Sloane Stephens, Victoria Azarenka, Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Čilić and John Isner. With so many big names playing, it’s hard to even know which matches to watch, but here’s a look at some of our must-see showdowns.
World ranking first, Wimbledon seeding in brackets
No. 181 Serena Williams [25] vs. No. 105 Arantxa Rus (first career meeting)
While on paper this doesn’t exactly look like the most compelling of matches, it’s hard to know what to expect of Serena Williams these days. Having made her return from maternity leave at Indian Wells in March, the seven-time Wimbledon champion has played in just three tournaments this year. She was forced to withdraw from the French Open last month ahead of her fourth-round match against Maria Sharapova due to a right pectoral muscle injury, and hasn’t played since.
Seeded No. 25 at Wimbledon, she revealed during her news conference on Sunday she’s only just resumed practicing her famed serve in the past week, but Williams seemed optimistic about her health and ready to play.
“I didn’t serve actually till I got here, to be honest,” she said. “Still I’m debating if I should go 120 [miles per hour] or whatever. I haven’t yet, but it’s been good. You know, I often find the less I serve, the better I serve, which is totally weird.
“I got to Europe a little bit early and I served one day in Europe. Once I got [to Wimbledon], I started serving more consistently. Just a little a day. For me, it was mostly just about the serve. So I took almost three weeks from serving completely, just doing an incredible amount of rehabilitation for my shoulder, like twice a day, so much work… I think it worked because so far so good. I’ll see how it goes.”
Williams has never faced the 27-year-old Rus before. She is perhaps best known for her upset win over then world No. 2 Kim Clijsters during the second round of the 2011 French Open, so she is presumably hoping to play spoiler yet again on one of the sport’s biggest stages. Rus has advanced just once (2012) past the first round at the All-England Club during her career.
If Williams is healthy and can play at even a moderate fraction of the game she is known for, she should have no problem moving on. However, if her pectoral muscle begins to flare up again, it could be anyone’s match to win.
No. 225 Stan Wawrinka vs. No. 6 Grigor Dimitrov [6] (Dimitrov leads series, 4-2)
A year ago, this matchup wouldn’t have seemed possible this early in a tournament. But alas, it has not been a great year for Stan Wawrinka. The three-time Grand Slam champion has struggled after undergoing knee surgery following Wimbledon last year, and has failed to advance past the second round of a Grand Slam since.
Grigor Dimitrov hasn’t exactly had a banner 2018 either, but looks to be in peak form as he enters the fortnight. He advanced to the quarterfinals in Melbourne and the third round in Paris, and expectations — and Roger Federer comparisons — remain sky high for the 27-year-old. Dimitrov is still searching for his elusive first Grand Slam title, and a win over the former world No. 3 could potentially boost his confidence going into the rest of the tournament.
Dimitrov has won the previous four meetings between the two, and has not lost to the Swiss star since 2013. Barring some type of fluke or injury, this meeting likely won’t reverse that streak, but still remains a marquee match — at least in name value.
No. 58 Johanna Larsson vs. No. 9 Venus Williams [9] (Williams leads series, 1-0)
What’s better than watching one Williams sister play during a day of binge tennis watching? Watching two Williams sisters play on the same day, right? And lucky for us, that’s exactly what’s happening on Monday.
Venus Williams opens her quest for a sixth Wimbledon title against Johanna Larsson on Court 2. It’s been a rough season for the elder Williams sister, flaming out of both Grand Slam tournaments in the first round for the first time in her storied career and having made just one semifinal (Miami). However, aged 38, she’s still considered one of the best on grass, and reached the final at Wimbledon last year. One would imagine she’s hoping she can get her 2018 campaign back on track at one of her favorite venues. Much like her sister, it’s hard to know just what to expect entering the fortnight. Will we see a determined former champion? A fading star struggling to hold on? We’ll have to wait and find out.
While she has nowhere near the resume of her opponent, Larsson won her second career title in May at Nurnberg and has proven she can play quality tennis when it counts. But she’s never made it to the second round in Wimbledon, and has just two career wins over Top 10 players in her career (No. 7 Li Na in 2011 and No. 8 Roberta Vinci in 2016). She would need to pull off one of the biggest upsets of her tennis life in order to reverse her fortunes at the All-England Club.
The two squared off previously during a Fed Cup match in 2013, with Williams winning in straight sets. It seems unlikely Williams would fall to the 29-year-old, but with the way this season is going, nothing is a given for her.
Court 3
If you’re a fan of American tennis, you might want to put on the feed of Court 3 on Monday and plan on not moving for a while. Here’s the order of play:
No. 13 Sam Querrey [11] vs. No. 99 Jordan Thompson (Querrey leads series, 1-0)
No. 65 Ajla Tomljanovic vs. No. 11 Madison Keys [10] (Series tied, 1-1)
No. 10 John Isner [9] vs. No. 134 Yannick Maden (First career meeting)
No. 16 Coco Vandeweghe [16] vs. No. 42 Katerina Siniakova (Vandeweghe leads series, 1-0)
Querrey! Keys! Isner! Vandeweghe! If that’s not a good lineup for the day, we really don’t know what is. All Americans should advance, but anything is possible during the first day at Wimbledon.
Other matches to note
No. 2 Roger Federer [1] vs. No. 57 Dusan Lajovic (Federer leads series, 1-0)
No. 97 Varvara Lepchenko vs. No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki [2] (Wozniacki leads series, 6-1)
No. 55 Donna Vekic vs. No. 4 Sloane Stephens [4] (First career meeting)
No. 41 Gael Monfils vs. No. 29 Richard Gasquet [23] (Monfils leads series, 9-7)
No. 110 Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. No. 87 Victoria Azarenka (First career meeting)