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Wimbledon 2019 Draw: Bracket, Schedule and Preview of Men and Women's Event
June 28, 2019
The 2019 Wimbledon Championships gets under way on Monday in south-west London with Novak Djokovic and Angelique Kerber as defending champions.
The first-round draw for the world's most historic tennis tournament took place on Friday and saw Djokovic paired with veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber, while Kerber will face fellow German Tatjana Maria.
Roger Federer will start his campaign for a ninth title on the Wimbledon grass against 22-year-old Lloyd Harris, and Rafael Nadal was handed an opening match against Japanese qualifier Yuichi Sugita. Nick Kyrgios could await the Spaniard in the second round:
Serena Williams, meanwhile, will play her first match since the French Open against Italy's Giulia Gatto-Monticone.
Tennis commentator Jose Morgado provided the draws in full:
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 7.
For the competition's final weekend (Saturday, July 13, and Sunday, July 14), 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
Djokovic, Nadal and Federer remain the three major contenders for the Wimbledon title in 2019, and it is difficult to see anyone else lifting the famous trophy come the tournament's second Sunday.
Despite all now being in their thirties, the trio has won all of the last 10 Grand Slams between them, and 14 of the last 16 Wimbledon titles—the absent Andy Murray won the other two.
The new generation simply do not yet have an obvious contender. Dominic Thiem made the French Open final for the second year running earlier this month, but grass is not his surface. He has only once made it past the second round at Wimbledon.
Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas are both hugely talented, but neither has made a Grand Slam final yet in their careers.
Out of the top three contenders, No. 3 seed Nadal is arguably an underdog despite winning the French Open.
He faces a tough route to the final, and his recent record on grass is relatively poor:
Ben Rothenberg @BenRothenberg#Wimbledon formula bumping Federer over Nadal is getting attention. Can't say I object to whatsoever. Nadal has only made one (1) grass court final in the last eight years, which was at ATP 250 Stuttgart in 2015. Federer has made thirteen (13) grass finals in that stretch.
The last time he won Wimbledon was back in 2010, since when Djokovic has won four titles and Federer two, and it would be no surprise to see the Serb and the Swiss face off in this year's final as seeds No. 1 and No. 2.
The women's draw is much more open and unpredictable. Some of the top picks for the title include French Open champion and world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, U.S. and Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka, defending champion Kerber, seven-time winner Williams, two-time champion Petra Kvitova, or even home favourite Johanna Konta.
Since the start of 2017, there have been nine different winners of the 10 Grand Slam championships, with only Osaka winning twice.
Williams' dominance has declined somewhat, but it would be foolish to bet against her on a surface she loves and at a tournament she has enjoyed so much success at.
The legendary American is just one more Grand Slam triumph from matching Margaret Court's record of 24 titles, a huge motivator for the 37-year-old.
Her invincible aura has faded, though. Kerber beat her in last year's Wimbledon final, as did Osaka at the 2018 U.S. Open final.
Barty's confidence will be at an all-time high after her Roland-Garros victory, and as the top seed, she is the one to beat.
The 23-year-old Australian remains in fine form having won the Birmingham Classic last week to take the world No. 1 spot, and she will open her Wimbledon campaign against China's Zheng Saisai.