Ash Barty is looking at the best chance she’s had at Wimbledon but the draw has been far from kind for the other Aussie stars.
Aussie Ash Barty’s path to a breakthrough Wimbledon title looks to have one less roadblock as 2019 champion and World No. 3 Simona Halep withdrew from The Championship with a calf injury.
It was just before the draw but means that the two women closest to Barty on the world rankings — Halep and Naomi Osaka — won’t play at the All England Club.
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Barty will have a tricky first round against former top 10 player Carla Suarez Navarro.
The Spanish veteran is on the comeback to tennis having retired in September 2020 after being diagnosed with a Hodgkin Lymphoma.
She returned to the tour in April this year after being declared cancer-free.
But it’s a sign of how open the women’s field that Barty is seen as the favourite, despite her best performance on the hallowed turf being a fourth round exit.
Questions surround Barty’s fitness ahead of the tournament as she retired from the second round of the French Open with an ongoing hip injury.
However, Barty has a thing for history after becoming the first Aussie in 46 years to win the French Open in 2019 and following in fellow Indigenous icon Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s footsteps to become the second Aussie woman to be world No. 1.
Barty revealed her outfit tribute to Goolagong Cawley ahead of her Wimbledon charge.
“Thank you @filatennis for making this special Wimbledon collection. I hope I can make you proud Evonne,” Barty posted on Instagram.
Barty could have a tough draw with 27th seed and local hero Johanna Konta potentially a third-round match up, 17th seed Kiki Bertens or 14th seed Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth, and 12th Victoria Azarenka or fifth seed Bianca Andreescu in the quarters.
Then the semis could hold third seed Evita Svitolina, sixth seed Williams or ninth seed Belinda Bencic.
The tournament is also shaping as Serena Williams’ best chance to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 grand slam titles with Osaka and Halep out with the question marks around Barty’s fitness.
In terms of the other Australian players in the women’s draw, Alja Tomljanovic faces a qualifier, while Sam Stosur will play American Shelby Rogers in the first round.
Aussie men face carnage at Wimbledon
The Aussie men will be up against it at Wimbledon with a horror draw ahead of them.
Our only seeded man Alex de Minaur starts against American Sebastian Korda but faces a third-round match up with third seed Stephanos Tsitsipas, fresh off his first grand slam final at Roland Garros.
He also lines up on the Novak Djokovic side of the draw, even if he can make it past Tsitsipas.
Meanwhile Nick Kyrgios has drawn 21 seed Ugo Humbert in the first round in a difficult draw as well.
The pair have a 1-1 record head to head but Kyrgios claimed a five setter at this years’ Australian Open, while he had to retire hurt in their previous meeting at Acapulco in 2020.
Humbert won his first grass title at the Halle Open last week so will be in strong form against the Aussie who has been inactive since the Australian Open.
The Aussies had no luck with seeded players in the first round with John Millman drawing 8th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, Jordan Thompson facing 12th seed Casper Ruud and qualifier Chris O’Connell facing 13th seed Gael Monfils.
Alexei Popyrin, Australia’s fourth highest ranked men’s player at No. 67, will face former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori.
The other Aussies who qualified include Marc Polmans facing Yen-Hsun Lu, Alex Bolt will play Serbian Filip Krajinovic and James Duckworth will face Radu Albot.
In the big news, we could have a Big Three face off in the final with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic on opposite sides of the draw.
The draw has opened up somewhat with world No. 5 Dominic Thiem withdrawing from the tournament on Thursday, while Rafael Nadal already revealed he would skip Wimbledon.
Aussies in round one Wimbledon action
1-Ash Barty Vs Carla Suarez Navarro
Alja Tomljanovic Vs Qualifier/Lucky Loser
Sam Stosur Vs Shelby Rogers
15-Alex De Minaur Vs Sebastian Korda
Nick Kyrgios Vs 21-Ugo Humbert
John Millman Vs 8-Robert Bautista Agut
Jordan Thompson Vs 12-Casper Ruud
Chris O’Connell Vs 13-Gael Monfils
Alex Popyrin Vs Kei Nishikori
Alex Bolt Vs Filip Krajinovic
Marc Polmans Vs Yen-Hsun Lu
James Duckworth Vs Radu Albot
Notable women’s first round matches
5-Bianca Andreescu Vs Alize Cornet
6-Serena Williams Vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich
10-Petra Kvitova Vs Sloane Stephens
7-Iga Swiatek Vs Hsieh Su-wei
Mihaela Buzarnescu Vs Venus Williams
Notable men’s first round matches
Novak Djokovic (1) vs Jack Draper (WC)
Stephanos Tsitsipas (3) vs Frances Tiafoe
24-Nikoloz Basilashvili vs Andy Murray (WC)
7-Roger Federer vs Adrian Mannarino
18-Grigor Dimitrov vs Fernando Verdasco