Wimbledon 2018 Draw: Bracket, Schedule and Preview of Men and Women's Event
June 29, 2018
Wimbledon 2018 kicks off on Monday, as Roger Federer and Garbine Muguruza look to defend their titles from last year.
Sports journalist Reem Abulleil relayed the men's and women's draws after they were held on Friday:
Federer opens against Dusan Lajovic, while Muguruza, seeded third, will begin her title defence against British wild-card Naomi Broady.
The New York Times' Ben Rothenberg detailed which halves of the draw will play when:
Throughout the tournament, play on Centre Court and No. 1 Court will begin at 1 p.m. BST (8 a.m. ET), with other courts starting from 11:30 a.m. BST (6:30 a.m. ET), with no play scheduled for Sunday, July 8.
For the competition's final weekend (Saturday, July 14, and Sunday, July 15), the action will start from 2 p.m. BST (9 a.m. ET) on Centre Court and an hour earlier on No. 1 Court.
The full schedule can be found at Wimbledon's official website.
Preview
Top seed Federer and No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal have received favourable early draws at SW19, per Rothenberg:
Federer skipped the French Open for the third year running, but he made it back-to-back Australian Open titles in January as he enjoyed a career-best start to the season by winning his first 17 matches of the year.
His grass court season has gone well, too, having made the final of both the Stuttgart Open and Halle Open, winning the first against Milos Raonic and losing the second against Borna Coric.
Nadal should be fresh having taken the time to rest since winning his 11th French Open title earlier this month, but the two-time Wimbledon winner has not fared too well at the major in recent years, having not made it past the fourth round in his last five appearances.
The Spaniard has rediscovered his form and fitness, though, so he'll be looking to go deep at Wimbledon for the first time since reaching the final in 2011.
After appearing at Queen's, Andy Murray will continue his return to action, but after almost a year out, he's unseeded and has received a baptism of fire at Wimbledon, per Abulleil:
It always would have been difficult for the Scot to progress far given his rustiness, but the tough draw could give him less chance to hone his fitness on court.
Serena Williams is still seeded despite being 183rd in the WTA rankings, but she won't have an easy route through the competition.
The seven-time Wimbledon champion could face fifth seed Elina Svitolina in the third round and second seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-final.
Muguruza's preparation for Wimbledon has not been the best, having been dumped out of the Birmingham Classic in the round of 16 by Barbora Strycova.
The 24-year-old has a good pedigree at Wimbledon—she also made the final in 2015—and made the semi-final of the French Open, so she could go far once again.