On Friday, Wimbledon announced the draws for the 2023 edition of The Championships and while no.1 seed Iga Swiatek has been handed a comfortable draw, defending champion Elena Rybakina will have to navigate her way through the bottom half of the draw that is filled with in-form grass-courters besides as many as five other Grand Slam winners including reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka.
The Kazakh No.3 seed will begin her campaign against Shelby Rogers, who has as many as seven top 10 wins in her career, before potentially running into Alize Cornet, who had ended Swiatek's staggering run of 37-straight wins last Wimbledon in the third round.
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What makes things even tougher for Rybakina is that the draw also has three in-form grass court players in her quarter: Nottingham champion Katie Boulter, Birmingham champion Jelena Ostapenko and Berlin champion Petra Kvitova, also a two-time Wimbledon winner. And if Rybakina, who has not played a single grass court event this year owing to illness, goes past the tough first week, she could set up a repeat of 2022 final against Ons Jabeur in the quarterfinal.
Sabalenka, who stands in the final quarter of the bottom half, will begin her journey against Panna Udvardy and could face Camila Giorgi, who is gunning for a title in Eatbourne having reached the semis, in the second round and has a potential threat in Karolina Muchova, who had defeated her in the Roland Garros semis earlier this month, in the fourth round.
{{/usCountry}}Sabalenka, who stands in the final quarter of the bottom half, will begin her journey against Panna Udvardy and could face Camila Giorgi, who is gunning for a title in Eatbourne having reached the semis, in the second round and has a potential threat in Karolina Muchova, who had defeated her in the Roland Garros semis earlier this month, in the fourth round.
{{/usCountry}}It could finally be the year for Swiatek at Wimbledon having never made it past the fourth round in her last three appearances. Fresh off a successful Roland Garros title defence, the Polish will kick off the week against Zhu Lin and only faces a threat of either two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Victoria Azarenka or Coco Gauff in the quarters.
Popcorn first-round matches includes battle between two wild cards in seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina; and No.7 seed Gauff against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin