Wimbledon gets underway at the All England Club on Monday, a year after the 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Novak Djokovic is the men’s champion but 2019 women’s winner Simona Halep is missing due to injury.
AFP Sport looks at the players looking to upset some of the leading stars in the first round (x denotes world ranking):
Head-to-head: First meeting
— Draper, 19, was born just six miles (9.5km) from Wimbledon, but inhabits a different tennis environment to that of Djokovic, the five-time champion who is chasing a record-equalling 20th major.
Left-handed Draper has only played four matches on the main tour.
Three came on the grass courts of Queen’s last week where he made the quarter-finals, defeating Jannik Sinner and Alexander Bublik, both in the top 40.
Head-to-head: Federer leads 6-0
— A third meeting for the two veterans at Wimbledon with Federer coming out on top in straight sets in 2011 and 2018.
However, the left-handed, Malta-based Mannarino is no slouch on grass courts — his one career title came on the surface in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2019.
The 32-year-old has made the last 16 at Wimbledon on three occasions.
Head-to-head: First meeting
— Basilashvili, 29, is the only Georgian man in the world’s top 600 and boasts a victory over Roger Federer in Doha this year on his way to the title.
Basilashvili had a run to the semi-finals on grass in Halle last week while his best Wimbledon performance was getting to the third round in 2015 on his man draw debut.
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Head-to-head: First meeting
— The 32-year-old Suarez Navarro will win the hearts of Wimbledon even before a ball is hit as the cancer survivor plays the tournament for the last time having returned to the tour after winning her toughest battle against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in April.
The Spaniard, a former world number six, has made the last 16 at Wimbledon three times — in 2013, 2016 and 2019 — where it took former champions Petra Kvitova, Venus Williams and Serena Williams respectively to stop her.
Head-to-head: First meeting
— Former top 30 player Sasnovich says her dream is “to win Wimbledon” but it may not be this year with seven-time champion Williams up against her in the first round.
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Made the last 16 in 2018, knocking out 2011 and 2014 champion Petra Kvitova in the first round.
Has played 22 singles rubbers for Belarus in the Fed Cup and featured in the last-gasp 3-2 loss to the United States in the 2017 final in Minsk.
Head-to-head: Sabalenka leads 1-0
— 33-year-old Niculescu was a top 20 player in 2012 and has won three titles but had to qualify for this year’s Wimbledon.
At Wimbledon she reached the last 16 in 2015 and was runner-up in doubles at the All England Club with Angel Chan in 2017.
Often leaves opponents baffled with her unorthodox style of hitting forehands and backhands with both hands on the racquet. Her extreme slice also keeps rivals guessing.
