Wimbledon draw 2023: See who the big names will play in the opening round at the All England Club
The Wimbledon draw is out and it is not good news for two of Australia’s best hopes. Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz are waiting.
Novak Djokovic will begin his quest for a record-equalling eighth Wimbledon title against Argentina’s Pedro Cachin, with a potential rematch of last year’s final against Nick Kyrgios looming in the quarter-finals.
Djokovic could face Andrey Rublev or Felix Auger-Aliassime in the last eight should Kyrgios not make it, with his projected semi-final to come against Jannik Sinner or Casper Ruud, who he beat in the French Open final earlier this month.
Top seed and world number one Carlos Alcaraz has not been beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon in two appearances, but is finding his feet on the grass after winning at Queen’s Club last week.
Alcaraz starts against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, but has a tricky path through to the latter stages with the prospect for a rematch of the Queen’s final against Alex de Minaur in the fourth round and world number six Holger Rune in the quarter-finals.
Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on former US Open champion Dominic Thiem in the tie of the men’s first round with the winner potentially facing two-time champion Andy Murray, who takes on wildcard Ryan Peniston.
In the women’s tournament, top seed Iga Swiatek - who had to withdraw from the Bad Homburg semi-finals on Friday due to suspected food poisoning - has been handed the kinder side of the draw.
Swiatek begins against China’s Zhu Lin and is projected to face Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals and Jessica Pegula or Caroline Garcia in the last four.
The bottom half of the draw is stacked with defending champion Elena Rybakina, world number two Aryna Sabalenka and last year’s finalist Ons Jabeur.
Five-time winner Venus Williams will take on a fellow wildcard Elina Svitolina in one of the ties of the first round.
British number one Katie Boulter will take on Australia’s Daria Saville.
The 2021 doubles semi-finalist Storm Hunter has already had a taste of competing at Wimbledon and has been feeling those All England Club “goose bumps”.
She takes on Xinyu Wang in the first round.
“It was amazing to be out in Roehampton and the dream is so close, but also so far,” the Australian world No.162 said.
“I still want to be the best in the world, I’ve had my injuries but I’m fit, I’m concentrating on the next four years on tennis and my husband Loughlin quit his job this year to come in tour with me, which is the best thing, only seeing him three weeks a year was hard, now I’ve got someone to celebrate with on tour,”
The third Grand Slam of the season gets underway on Monday, July 3.
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