The opening day of Wimbledon takes place across the courts at SW19 on Monday as the singles draws gets going in the penultimate major of the year with all those on show looking to get off to a positive start.
As is the tradition at Wimbledon the men’s defending champion opens up play on the first day of the tournament so we will have the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff headlining the action.
Centre Court
We have known for a year that Carlos Alcaraz would open up the action on the Centre Court on Monday and he’ll do so against the lowly ranked Estonian player Mark Lajal in what could be a one-sided affair. That is actually the only match from the men’s draw on the main court on Monday as the other two come from the women’s event. Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu was scheduled to take on Ekaterina Alexandrova but the Russian has pulled out which means that the Briton will face Renata Zarazua instead. The final match on Centre Court sees Coco Gauff going up against her fellow American player Caroline Dolehide.
Court 1
We have a decent looking schedule over on Court 1 on Monday and we get started with the semi-finalist from last year as Daniil Medvedev begins another Wimbledon campaign when he takes on Aleksandar Kovacevic. The Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka was due to be second on court but she has withdrawn which means that Madison Keys has been upgraded to this slot. She meets the Italian player Martina Trevisan before the action concludes with another Italian on show as the world number one Jannik Sinner takes on Yannick Hanfmann for a spot in the second round.
Court 2
Grigor Dimitrov is a dark horse for many at this tournament and he opens up the play over on Court 2 when he goes up against the seasoned Dusan Lajovic before Stan Wawrinka will hope to roll back the years when he takes on the British player Charlie Broom. Two women’s matches conclude the schedule over on Court 2 with the former Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka taking on the Nottingham semi-finalist Diane Parry before we round things off with two more former Grand Slam winners battling it out when Victoria Azarenka meets Sloane Stephens.
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Court 3
We have another decent schedule out on Court 3 where the eighth seed Casper Ruud gets the action started when he takes on the qualifier Alex Bolt for a place in the second round. Eastbourne semi-finalist and French Open runner up Jasmine Paolini begins her campaign in the second game when she faces Sara Sorribes Tormo before Qinwen Zheng, the finalist in the Australian Open, starts her quest for a maiden Grand Slam when she takes on Lulu Sun. The Queens champion Tommy Paul then rounds off the show when he takes on Pedro Martinez.
Best of the Rest
As ever on the opening day of a Grand Slam we have some great players and big names all over the grounds on Monday with Court 12 having the likes of Maria Sakkari on show along with the former champion Matteo Berrettini and Mirra Andreeva while out on Court 18 seeded players taking on the court are Adrian Mannarino and Ben Shelton. Dayana Yastremska, Marta Kostyuk, Linda Noskova, Zhizhen Zhang, Nicolas Jarry, Eastbourne winner Daris Kasatkina, Tallon Griekspoor, Frances Tiafoe and Emma Navarro are some of the other seeds on show.
Betting
I’ll get my Wimbledon betting campaign underway with just the one bet where we have to wait until deep into the afternoon out on Court 17 where Paula Badosa takes on Karolina Muchova. The Spanish player has been backed in quite a lot since the draw was made for this match, largely down to the doubts over the fitness of the Czech who pulled out of Eastbourne with a wrist issue which is always a cause for concern but if Muchova plays this match I am going to take the faith that she is in good enough touch to perform well.
If that is the case then I think the Czech is a good bet at even money. She has only played those two matches at Eastbourne since the US Open because of wrist surgery but I am hoping that the Eastbourne withdrawal was just wear and tear after so long out. If it is something more serious then she will probably pull out anyway. If Muchova starts here the firm outside courts should really help her against a Badosa whose movement is better suited for clay than grass, as is her heavy hitting. Muchova has been a quarter finalist here twice and was really going strong before that injury last year. Badosa looks past her best so I’ll take Muchova in this one.
Tips
Back K.Muchova to beat P.Badosa for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betway
