Murray plays Basilashvili and Draper gets Djokovic – Wimbledon first-round drawon June 25, 2021 at 3:53 pm
Two-time champion Andy Murray plays Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili when he returns to the Wimbledon singles next week after a four-year absence.
| Venue: All England Club Dates: 28 June-11 July |
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The Briton has not played the event since 2017 because of injury and the postponement of last year’s edition.
British wildcard Jack Draper will make his Wimbledon main-draw debut against defending champion Novak Djokovic.
British women’s number one Johanna Konta, a semi-finalist in 2017, meets Czech Katerina Siniakova in her opener.
Francesca Jones, another Briton making her main-draw debut at the All England Club, faces American teenager Coco Gauff in her first-round match.
Dan Evans, Britain’s highest-ranked male player, plays Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez, with Cameron Norrie facing France’s Lucas Pouille.
Norrie, 25, could play eight-time champion Roger Federer in the third round.
Murray, who won the title in 2013 and 2016, is ranked 119th in the world and has been given a wildcard to play at the All England Club.
Konta, Evans and Norrie are all seeded – the first time since 1978 that Britain has three seeds in the singles – and there will be 15 home players in the two main draws.
Katie Swan’s reward for qualifying for the main draw is a first-round match against 2017 US Open finalist Madison Keys.
Swan, who reached the second round in 2018, joined those already in the draw by beating Australia’s Arina Rodionova in the final round of qualifying on Friday.
Heather Watson will play American Kristie Ahn, who is a lucky loser having lost in the final round of qualifying.
Katie Boulter also plays an American in Danielle Lao, while Emma Raducanu faces Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko.
Play starts on the outside courts at 11:00 BST on Monday, with defending men’s champion Djokovic opening up Centre Court as Wimbledon tradition dictates – although he will play Draper this year at a slightly later time of 13:30 BST.
What are the other key points from the draw?
American seven-time champion Serena Williams, 39, is bidding for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title and opens up against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.
Williams has lost in each of the past two SW19 finals and could face Germany’s Angelique Kerber – who beat her to win the 2018 title – in the third round.
Konta has been drawn in the top section of the draw, meaning she could face Australian top seed Ashleigh Barty in the third round.
Barty, 25, has been trying to overcome a hip injury but opens against Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, who returned to Grand Slam action at the recent French Open after announcing she was cancer free.
Switzerland’s Federer, 39, starts against France’s Adrian Mannarino and is in the same quarter of the draw as Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev, who faces Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round.
Who are the Britons playing?
Men’s draw:
(WC denotes wildcard, numbers denote seedings)
Jack Draper [WC] v Novak Djokovic (Srb) [1]
Liam Broady [WC] v Marco Cecchinato (Ita)
Jay Clarke [WC] v Egor Gerasimov (Blr)
Dan Evans [22] v Feliciano Lopez (Spa)
Andy Murray [WC] v Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo)
Cameron Norrie [29] v Lucas Pouille (Fra)
Women’s draw:
(WC denotes wildcard, numbers denote seedings)
Johanna Konta [27] v Katerina Siniakova (Cze)
Samantha Murray Shahan [WC] v Sorana Cirstea (Rou)
Emma Raducanu [WC] v Vitalia Diatchenko (Rus)
Francesca Jones [WC] v Coco Gauff (US) [20]
Heather Watson v Kristie Ahn (US)
Harriet Dart [WC] v Elise Mertens (Bel) [13]
Jodie Burrage [WC] v Lauren Davis (US)
Katie Boulter [WC] v Danielle Lao (US)
Katie Swan v Madison Keys (US) [23]
