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- Ricky’s picks for Friday in Basel, involving Rublev and Tsitsipas
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- Swiss Indoors Basel Draws and Schedule for Thursday, October 24, 2024
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- Ricky’s picks for Wednesday in Vienna, including Berrettini vs. Tiafoe
- Swiss Indoors Basel Draws and Schedule for Wednesday, October 23, 2024
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- Swiss Indoors Basel Draws and Schedule for Tuesday, October 22, 2024
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Wimbledon Men’s Singles Draw: Djokovic, Tsitsipas in Same Half, Federer in Medvedev’s Quarter
- Updated: June 25, 2021
By Ricky Dimon
The
Wimbledon draw ceremony was held on Friday, when Novak Djokovic and Roger
Federer landed in opposite halves.
As a result, a rematch of the historic 2019 final could take place on champion
Sunday in a little more than two weeks’ time. Of course, there is a long way to
go–especially for Federer–before that could come to fruition. The 39-year-old’s
2021 comeback has been a rocky one. Although he won three matches at the French
Open, Federer lost right away in Geneva to Pablo Andujar and–in more concerning
fashion–dropped his second grass-court match in Halle to Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Federer’s bid for Grand Slam title No. 21 will begin against savvy grass-court
player Adrian Mannarino prior to a possible date with fellow veteran Richard
Gasquet. A red-hot Cameron Norrie is a potential third-round opponent for the
world No. 8. Week two for Federer could get started with Lorenzo Sonego or Sam
Querrey, both of whom find themselves in finals this week (Sonego in
Eastbourne, Querrey in Mallorca). Daniil Medvedev, who will battle Querrey for
the Mallorca title, is the top seed in the bottom section of the Wimbledon
bracket and is on a collision course with Federer for the quarterfinals.
The
other quarter in the bottom half is home to Auger-Aliassime, Alexander Zverev,
Matteo Berrettini, Ugo Humbert, John Isner, and Nick Kyrgios. Humbert is
already 8-1 on grass this summer with a title in Halle, but his draw at the
All-England Club is not a good one. The Frenchman opens with Kyrgios and could
run into Auger-Aliassime in the last 32. Berrettini vs. Isner would be another
third-round matchup to watch.
At the top of the draw, Djokovic should cruise into the semifinals–and possibly
all the way to the title. The world No. 1 and defending champion (2018 and
2019) has no apparent danger in close proximity. Kevin Anderson actually
finished runner-up to Djokovic at the 2018 championships and is a possible
round-two opponent, but Anderson certainly isn’t the same kind of player three
years later. Andrey Rublev and Jannik Sinner are the likely quarterfinal foes
for Djokovic.
A rematch of the French Open final between Djokovic and Tsitsipas is possible on semifinal Friday in SW19. Tsitsipas, who has not yet played on grass in 2021, faces a tough opener against Frances Tiafoe. Vasek Pospisil, Karen Khachanov, and then probably either Alex de Minaur, Dan Evans, or Feliciano Lopez could be next in line for the third-seeded Greek. Roberto Bautista Agut, Denis Shapovalov, Reilly Opelka, and Andy Murray are also part of a deep but also relatively wide-open quarter.
Among the marquee first-round matchups are Federer vs. Mannarino, Humbert vs. Kyrgios, Tsitsipas vs. Tiafoe, Evans vs. Lopez, Sinner vs. Marton Fucsovics, Khachanov vs. Mackenzie McDonald, de Minaur vs. Sebastian Korda, Murray vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili, Querrey vs. Pablo Carreno Busta, Medvedev vs. Jan-Lennard Struff, Grigor Dimitrov vs. Fernando Verdasco, and Hubert Hurkacz vs. Lorenzo Musetti.
With Djokovic being the defending champ and therefore given the first match on Centre Court, the top half of the draw will kick off the proceedings on Monday.
Click here for the full singles draw at the Wimbledon website
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.