Wimbledon | A favorable draw for Serena Williams

(Wimbledon) Serena Williams will make her return to Wimbledon by facing Harmony Tan, a 24-year-old Frenchwoman who occupies the 113^e world rank and has a career record of 2-6 Grand Slams.

Williams’ place in the women’s draw was the most anticipated feature of Friday’s draw at the All England Club. This is her first singles appearance at a tournament since injuring her right leg and dropping out in the first set of her first-round match on center court a year ago.

Due to her lack of activity over the past 12 months, Williams — who was No. 1 in the rankings — is not among the WTA’s Top 1200 players this week and the draw could have placed her anywhere in the world. the board and against any opponent in the first round. She returned to the circuit just this week, playing two doubles matches at a preseason tournament in England and earning an invitation to play at Wimbledon.

While the 40-year-old American’s track record should give her rankings, the All England Club now strictly adheres to rankings to determine how they select players.

Williams has won seven Wimbledon titles, among her total of 23 Grand Slam singles titles, a record in the professional era. Tan, meanwhile, will make her tournament debut on grass.

If Williams manages to defeat Tan, her next match could be against Sara Sorribes Tormo, who is ranked 32^e but has never made it past the second round of the All England Club or the third round of a major tournament in 19 games.

The third round would potentially put Williams up against a tougher opponent: sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who was the runner-up against Ashleigh Barty last year at Wimbledon and also reached the US Open final in 2016 — defeating Williams in the semi-finals.

Barty retired at age 25 in March and will therefore not defend his title when the tournament opens on Monday. It also leaves open the question of which female player will have the honor of playing the first match on center court on Tuesday, a slot traditionally reserved for the previous year’s champion.

The two most likely choices appear to be No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who is currently on a 35-game winning streak and fresh off the French Open title, or Simona Halep, who won the 2019 Wimbledon trophy, against Williams in the final, but didn’t get a chance to kick off the tournament on center court in 2020, when the tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, or in 2021, as she was injured and unable to play .

The Canadian Bianca Andreescu, finalist at the Bad Homburg tournament, will face the American Emina Bektas, from the qualifications. Rebecca Marino will play her first match against Poland’s Kataryzyna Kawa.

FAA against Nadal in quarters?

On the men’s side, Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime, seeded sixth, will start his tournament against American Maxime Cressy. The 21-year-old is in the portion of the table where he could meet Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals. The two met in the round of 16 at Roland Garros this year, with Nadal winning in five sets. Denis Shapovalov, No. 13, has an appointment with the French Arthur Rinderknech in the first round.

Novak Djokovic, who won his third consecutive Wimbledon title — and sixth overall — last year, will have the honor of kicking things off on center court on Monday when he faces South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo, 75^e world player.

Although Djokovic has slipped to third in the standings, he is the top seed in the men’s draw because No. 1 Daniil Medvedev and No. 2 Alexander Zverev are absent. Medvedev is Russian, and all players from this country and Belarus were banned by the All England Club because of the war in Ukraine. Zverev is recovering after tearing ligaments in his right foot in his French Open semi-final against Nadal, who won his 14^e title there and bettered the men’s record by 22^e overall in major tournaments.

The draw also determined that Andy Murray, who has won two of his three Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon, will face James Duckworth in the first round.