The Wimbledon Tennis Championship got underway at the All England Club in London on Monday (1st July 2024).
The first day of Wimbledon saw thrilling victories and surprising withdrawals.
On the first day, in Men’s Singles, Norwegian eighth seed Casper Ruud eased past Australian qualifier Alex Bolt 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round.
Canadian Denis Shapovalov beat Chilean 19th seed Nicolas Jarry 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 while Bulgarian 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov defeated Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to reach the second round.
Meanwhile, India’s Sumit Nagal will make his maiden Wimbledon main draw appearance. He is set to face Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in the first round tonight.
In Women’s Singles, Ninth seed Maria Sakkari reached second round after beating Mccartney Kessler of the United States, 6-3, 6-1. Ukrainian 18th seed Marta Kostyuk beat Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova 6-3 6-2 to advance to the next round. Ukrainian 28th seed Dayana Yastremska beat Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska 6-1, 7-6. 25th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Taylor Townsend 7-6(4) 6-1 in the first round.
However, tournament favourite Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus withdrew from the Championship due to a shoulder injury. The two-time Australian Open champion was seeded third at the All England Club and was supposed to play Emina Bektas of the United States in the first round today at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 22nd seed also withdrew from Wimbledon with illness. She was scheduled to play Britain’s Emma Raducanu in the first round today. She has been replaced in the draw by Mexico’s Renata Zarazua.
In the Men’s Doubles, matches will be played on Wednesday. Second seed Indo-Australian pair, Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will take on Adrian Mannarino and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France on Wednesday.
India’s N Sriram Balaji along with his partner Luke Johnson of Great Britain will be up against reigning French Open champions Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo in the opening round.
Meanwhile, Yuki Bhambri, along with Albano Olivetti of France, will square off against Alexander Bublik and Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan.
Wimbledon, also known as the Championship, is the oldest and the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.
