Your Wimbledon day two guide as GOAT returns but Brits face disaster | Tennis | Sport

Wimbledon is underway and it was a dramatic first 24 hours of the iconic tournament on Monday. After British No.1 Emma Raducanu withdrew late on Sunday night, Jack Draper pulled out mid-afternoon yesterday – also with injury – shortly before the 26th seed in the men’s draw, Cameron Norrie, crashed out in a five-setter.

It was an awful day for British tennis in truth with all 10 Brits who played on day one losing in the opening round. But what lies ahead on day two? Express Sport brings you all you need to know for Tuesday, June 30 at the All England Club…

With Draper’s withdrawal robbing us of a Centre Court thriller against sixth seed Taylor Fritz this afternoon, the highlight of day two is undoubtedly the return of the women’s GOAT: Serena Williams.

The 44-year-old has the most singles Grand Slam titles of any woman in the Open Era with 23 plus four Olympic gold medals and another 14 Slam doubles titles alongside her sister Venus. And after four years away, she’s back on court at Wimbledon against Maya Joint later today. The excitement comes from the fact that nobody knows what to expect.

She hasn’t played a competitive singles match in four years. Since then, she’s had a second daughter and only returned to the doubles 21 days ago.

She admitted in her pre-tournament press conference: “I had until Monday to decide [to take the wildcard]. I think it was like Sunday [that I decided to]. I just wasn’t sure up until then. Honestly, I’m still not even sure, but we’ll see.” This is going to be fun!

In total, 10 British players crashed out of the Grand Slam on Monday. The only reason it wasn’t 11 was because Jack Pinnington Jones’ match was suspended on Monday evening when he was two sets down.

Raducanu and Draper’s withdrawals were body blows, before Norrie – the only British player seeded this year – crashed out in a surprise defeat.

Oliver Tarvet, Felix Gill and Max Basing all fell in the men’s draw. Harriet Dart, Hannah Klugman, Mingge Xu, Alicia Dudeney, Mika Stojsavljevic and Fran Jones crashed out of the women’s.

That leaves eight remaining Brits – and don’t back many of them to be in round two, either.

Only one of them is ranked lower than 100th in the world. That’s No.60 Katie Boulter, who was previously as high as 23rd in the WTA standings. Boulter faces an Italian teenager ranked 172nd. Defeat would be another bitter blow for the LTA. Good luck, Katie!

Today could be Stan Wawrinka’s last dance at Wimbledon. He’s won all of the other three Grand Slams but has only ever reached the quarter-finals on the grass major. Now 41, wildcard Wawrinka is a bona fide legend embarking on his farewell tour.

But can he extend his farewells at SW19 by at least another couple of days? He faces Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, in an absorbing contest set to conclude the day on Court 1.

Although Berrettini has been around on tour a long time, at 30, it’s remarkably the first time ever the pair have gone head-to-head.

Our five must-watch matches today

Jakub Mensik [15] vs Toby Samuel

Thanasi Kokkinakis vs Alexander Bublik [10]

Serena Williams vs Maya Joint

Stan Wawrinka vs Matteo Berrettini

Emma Navarro [23] vs Paula Badosa

Express Sport – your home of Wimbledon

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