World No.1 Ash Barty headlines 'brutal' Wimbledon draw
New world No.1 Ash Barty has a mountain to climb to repeat as a grand slam champion.
Two weeks after climbing the summit, the Australian will face world No.43 Saisai Zheng in the first round at Wimbledon next week.
After three days off to recover from a niggling arm injury, Barty enjoyed her first pre-Wimbledon work-out on Thursday.
She reported no setbacks and is confident her tried and proven formula of resting the weeks either side of grand slam events will have her ready to go when the grass-court major gets under way on Monday.
Barty headlines a quarter featuring a stunning number of high-profile names and tough match-ups.
Two-time grand slam champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Garbine Muguruza loom for Barty in the second and third rounds respectively.
The Aussie could meet seeded players Donna Vekic or Belinda Bencic in a tough fourth-round match.
Provided Barty gets through that, she is in line to meet close friend and fellow Birmingham finalist Julia Goerges in the quarter-final – or it could be all-time great Serena Williams.
Or even three-time major winner Angelique Kerber, or five-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova.
The quarter also features Australian veteran Sam Stosur, who opens against 30th seed Carla Suarez Navarro.
It's brutal. https://t.co/nu0ihevBwx
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) June 28, 2019
One of the craziest, nastiest Grand Slam quarters in the Open Era
5 No. 1s. 7 major singles champs. 4 former Wimbledon singles champs: Serena. Sharapova. Kerber. Muguruza.#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/PaMTEFUvkv— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) June 28, 2019
Meanwhile, 15-year-old American Coco Gauff has been drawn against none other than one of her idols in the first round: the 39-year-old American Venus Williams.
Gauff made history as the youngest player ever to qualify for the Wimbledon main draw.
“I’m still in shock that I’m going to be playing main draw Wimbledon,” Gauff said.
“I think my first memory was watching Serena (Williams) playing Wimbledon, and I think she won — I don’t remember which year, she’s won so many times.”
Venus Williams won four grand slam titles before Gauff was born in 2004.
"They're the reason I wanted to pick up a tennis racket"
After coming through Qualifying, @CocoGauff now has the chance to face one of her idols... #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/20iqy8zYgj— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 28, 2019
Aussies in the first round
Women's singles:
* 1-Ashleigh Barty v Zheng Saisai (CHN)
* Ajla Tomljanovic v 29-Daria Kasatkina (RUS)
* Daria Gavrilova v 8-Elina Svitolina (UKR)
* Astra Sharma v 27-Sofia Kenin (USA)
* Samantha Stosur v 30-Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)
Men's singles:
* 25-Alex de Minaur v Marco Cecchinato (ITA)
* Nick Kyrgios v Jordan Thompson
* John Millman v Hugo Dellian (BOL)
* Matt Ebden v 24-Diego Schwartzman (ARG)
* Alexei Popyrin v Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)
* Bernard Tomic v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (ESP)
with AAP