Novak Djokovic will begin his bid for a record-equalling eighth singles title against Argentina’s Pedro Cachin on the opening day of the 136th Championships.
As the defending champion, Djokovic is given the honour of opening Centre Court play at 1.30pm on Monday and it was Cachin, the world No.67, whose name landed next to the Serb’s when the singles draws were made at the All England Club on Friday.
New this year:
- See the draw like never before, with interactive Path to the Final view of the draw by clicking a player’s name on the draws page
- See the projected Path to the Final of every player in the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ singles draws with IBM Likely to Play
- View how favourable or difficult a player's draw is, with IBM AI Draw Analysis
As Djokovic this year begins the Fortnight as the No.2 seed, the bottom half of the 128-player draw will play on Monday, with the top half – including No.1 seed Carlos Alcaraz – in action on Day 2.
Alcaraz, who won his first grass court tournament in the lead-up to The Championships, will take on 2005 Junior Wimbledon champion Jeremy Chardy in his first match.
The No.3 seed, Daniil Medvedev, goes up against British wild card Arthur Fery and could have to play experienced grass courter Adrian Mannarino in his second match, while No.4 seed Casper Ruud will face French qualifier Laurent Lokoli.
Other first round matches to jump out include No.5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas’s meeting with former US Open champion Dominic Thiem.
The winner of that match could face two-time champion Andy Murray in the second round if the Scot beats fellow Brit Ryan Peniston.
Tsitsipas has been handed one of the toughest draws of all the top players. If he survives beyond round two, he would potentially face No.32 seed Ben Shelton or serve-volley specialist Maxime Cressy.
Last year’s runner-up Nick Kyrgios will start his campaign against Belgian former top 10 player David Goffin.
The runner-up from 2021, Matteo Berrettini, unseeded this year, plays fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego. The winner of that match could play recent Queen’s finalist Alex de Minaur in the second round.
Other attractive match-ups include the contest between Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and talented young Frenchman Arthur Fils, and three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka’s meeting with Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori.
Looking beyond the opening week – should seedings go according to plan – projected quarter-finals would include Alcaraz playing Holger Rune, Medvedev going up against Tsitsipas, Jannik Sinner facing Ruud, and Djokovic taking on Andrey Rublev.
The first opportunity for seeded players to clash will be the third round and as ever some of the big names have been given tricky paths into the later stages.
Alcaraz shares his quarter of the draw with the likes of Alexander Zverev, Berrettini, De Minaur, Frances Tiafoe, Grigor Dimitrov and Rune.
Rublev, the No.7 seed, could have to see off Kyrgios in the third round. Djokovic, meanwhile, could come up against former semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz in the last 16 and potentially Kyrgios – a re-match of last year’s final – as early as the last eight.
Monday’s Order of Play will be released on Saturday 1 July.
