Wimbledon Ladies Tennis Draw • Gauff Gets Venus, Serena’s Quarter Loaded

“Meet the new future of tennis! Look out Wimbledon here she is! 🎾👏💫☄️ She’s a sweetheart as well! Good luck Cori Gauff.”

 

 

By Ricky Dimon

 

Some may consider the first-round Wimbledon matchup between Venus Williams and Coco Gauff a be-careful-what-you-wish-for situation. But even if Gauff loses, that won’t really be the case.

 

After becoming the youngest player in the Open Era to qualify for Wimbledon on Thursday at Roehampton, the 15-year-old American was asked about her main-draw preferences. “It would great to share the court with Venus or Serena,” she said of her tennis idols.

 

The dream is now a reality for Gauff, whose name popped up right next to Venus during Friday’s draw ceremony at the All-England Club. It was a dream deferred for three months after the Delray Beach, Fla. resident came within one round of facing Venus in Indian Wells, losing to Daria Kasatkina to crush her hopes.

 

Now, nothing other than about 48 more hours stands in her way.

 

“I’m still in shock,” Gauff said after cruising past Greete Minnen 6-1, 6-1 in the final round of qualifying. “Playing against the top players in the field is going to be a different feel.”

 

It’s sure going to be different against one of thee greatest of all time, but Venus is certainly not at the top these days. The 39-year-old American, who is a five-time Wimbledon champion, is unseeded this time around as the No. 44 player in the world. She is 2-3 in her last five matches and coming off a Birmingham quarterfinal loss to Ashleigh Barty.

 

Barty is the top player, having gone on to capture the Birmingham title–thus ascending to the No. 1 ranking for the first time in her career. Also the reigning French Open winner, Barty finds herself in a loaded quarter of the Wimbledon draw that also features Serena, defending champion Angelique Kerber, Belinda Bencic, Donna Vekic, grass-court specialist Alison Riske, and former Wimbledon winners Garbine Muguruza and Maria Sharapova.A less stacked second section could present an opportunity for French Open semifinalists Amanda Anisimova and Johanna Konta.

 

Among those on the bottom half of the draw are Venus, Goff, Naomi Osaka, Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki, Madison Keys, and Victoria Azarenka.

 

Other first-round matchups to watch are:

Vekic vs. Riske
Bencic vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Samantha Stosur
Andrea Petkovic vs. Monica Niculescu
Anisimova vs. Sorana Cirstea
Svitolina vs. Daria Gavrilova
Su-Wei Hsieh vs. Jelena Ostapenko
Victoria Azarenka vs. Alize Cornet
Naomi Osaka vs. Yulia Putintseva

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.