First-round action at Wimbledon continues on Tuesday, when among those taking the court are Felix Auger-Aliassime and Arthur Fils. Auger-Aliassime is going up against Thanasi Kokkinakis, while Fils faces Dominic Stricker.
Here are my previews and picks for two of Tuesday’s best matchups.
(17) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
Auger-Aliassime and Kokkinakis will be going head-to-head for the first time on Tuesday at the All-England Club. Neither player has been in particularly good form this season, which means this could come down to the surface. Grass likely gives an edge to Auger-Aliassime, who made a run to the quarterfinals in SW19 three years ago and is a two-time runner-up in Stuttgart. The Canadian is a decent 20-14 in 2024 but has not yet won a match on the green stuff.
Kokkinakis is saddled with a terrible 9-17 lifetime record on grass. Adding insult to injury (or vice versa), the oft-injured Australian goes into Wimbledon as a physical question mark (what’s new?!?!) because he withdrew prior to a Queen’s Club qualifying match and has not played since. Look for FAA to win this one.
Pick: Auger-Aliassime in 4
Arthur Fils vs. Dominic Stricker
Stricker retired from a semifinal match at the NextGen ATP Finals this past due to a back problem and missed the first five months of 2024. He finally returned for the grass-court swing and played a trio of Challenger tournaments, winning a mere one match in total. That doesn’t bode well for the 21-year-old heading into a best-of-five situation on Tuesday. How will he hold up physically?
It was at the 2023 NextGen ATP Finals where Stricker lost to Fils in four sets, a result that evened their H2H 1-1. Stricker had previously prevailed 7-6(4), 7-6(4) on the red clay of Gstaad. Whereas the Swiss has mostly been idle of late, Fils has continued to ascend up the rankings. The 20-year-old from France has won 16 ATP-level matches this season and at 34th he is on the brink of being seeded for majors. Give me Fils all the way.
Pick: Fils in 4
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.