The Spaniard, who makes his debut against Cerúndolo on Tuesday, has one of the worst possible draws and Alcaraz and Djokovic could meet in the quarter-finals
The attempt to conquer the third Wimbledon will not be easy for Rafa Nadal. The draw for the main draw, which took place at the All England Club on Friday, showed him his roughest face, with possible crosses to Matteo Berrettini in the semi-final and to Marin Cilic in the round of 16. The shadow of the Italian, one of the The best grass players, if not the best, of recent seasons, and the Croat, London Grand Slam finalist in 2017, are just two of many hanging over Nadal’s future in English. capital city.
However, Nadal’s debut, which will take place in the second or third team of the exchange on Tuesday, aims to be the quietest game he has. His rival will be Argentinian Francisco Cerúndolo, this year’s semifinalist in Miami and one of the great hopes for tennis in his country after the departure of Juan Martín del Potro. Cerúndolo comes from a family of tennis players. His father, Toto Cerúndolo, was a player and coach, and his brother, Juan Manuel, younger than him, has already won an ATP title.
On grass, however, Francisco Cerúndolo has barely three official matches played, not counting the previous one, winning one just over a week ago at Queen’s and losing two. If he wins Tuesday’s bet, Nadal could face a specialist like Sam Querrey on Thursday, who at the age of 34 has more than 80 wins on grass. The American, a real punch, knows what it’s like to knock out Novak Djokovic (2016) and Andy Murray (2017) and played in the semi-finals five years ago. The good news for Nadal is that the Spaniard triumphed in three sets in their only meeting in London.
After a third round, hypothetically against Lorenzo Sonego, who won a title on grass (Antalya 2019) and reached another final (Eastbourne 2021), Marin Cilic, finalist at Wimbledon in 2017, double winner at Queen’s – prelude to the third Grand Slam of the year, and who knows what it’s like to beat Nadal in a big win since he did it in Australia 2018. The Croat has been in a recession for the past two seasons due to injuries, but he is still a Grand Slam champion (US Open 2014) and has reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon four times in his career.
In the quarter-final barrier appears Felix Auger-Aliassime, one of the three men who take Nadal to five sets at Roland Garros, while in the semi-final Matteo Berrettini is scary, the man with the best numbers on this surface and with whom Nadal trained with defeat Thursday at center court. The tennis player from Rome has won 31 of the last 34 matches on grass and has two trophies to his name at Queen’s and two at Stuttgart. In addition, he played the final in London last year against Novak Djokovic, who would be the Spaniard’s last rival in Nadal’s hypothetical path to the title.
Carlos Alcaraz was also not very lucky, who made his debut last year against his executioner at Roland Garros, the German server Jan-Lennard Struff. The Murcian could face Djokovic in the quarter-final and Hubert Hurkacz, the recent winner in Halle, in the semi-final. Alcaraz, who lost in the Hurlingham exhibition to Frances Tiafoe on Thursday, is playing at Wimbledon for the second time in his career, having finished in the second round in 2021.
Among the ladies, Paula Badosa will make her debut against American Louise Chirico, number 227 in the world, and Garbiñe Muguruza against Belgium’s Greet Minnen, number 89 on the WTA ranking.
Source: La Verdad
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