Tennis-Sinner starts Wimbledon bid against fellow Italian Nardi
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - June 29, 2025 Italy's Jannik Sinner during a practice session REUTERS/Andrew Couldridge
LONDON (Reuters) -The opening round of Wimbledon continues on Tuesday where world number one Jannik Sinner begins his bid for a fourth Grand Slam crown and Coco Gauff starts her quest to follow up her French Open success.
TOP MEN'S MATCH: JANNIK SINNER V LUCA NARDI
Top seed Sinner has never reached a Wimbledon final but having reached the French Open decider for the first time earlier in June, the Italian will hope to put that right this time around.
Sinner lost out to Carlos Alcaraz in that Roland Garros thriller, before his grass season began with exiting the Halle Open, which he won last year, at the second hurdle, but the Italian has already put that defeat by Alexander Bublik behind him.
"What happened in the past is in the past already," Sinner told reporters.
"I have some good feelings coming here, even though it's a bit different than last year, coming with the win in Halle.
"But it's good. I had some time off before coming here. We are practicing very well."
Sinner will take on compatriot Luca Nardi, the first meeting of the Italians, and the 21-year-old has never advanced beyond the first round of a Grand Slam tournament. Nardi lost his only grass match this season going out in the Eastbourne qualifiers.
TOP WOMEN'S MATCH: DAYANA YASTREMSKA V COCO GAUFF
World number two Gauff comes in full of confidence after her French Open win but the American has yet to go beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon, and for now that is her main ambition.
"The next goal coming up, obviously to have a good result here," Gauff told reporters.
"I've lost in the fourth round a few times, so I would love to get past that stage.
"I would love to win this, but I'm a big believer in just conquering one step at a time. If I get past that stage, then I'll start thinking about the winning."
Gauff's first opponent is Yastremska, who the American has beaten in all three previous meetings, which all came on clay. The Ukrainian reached the final in Nottingham and the quarter-finals of Eastbourne in an impressive start to her grass season.
FORMER WINNERS IN ACTION
Barbora Krejcikova begins her title defence against Alexandra Eala, who became the first Filipino to reach a WTA Tour Final last weekend at Eastbourne, while the Czech player withdrew because of a thigh injury before her quarter-final.
"I had to have couple days off where I didn't really play any tennis, but I did some off-court stuff," Krejcikova said.
"I've been feeling every day a little bit better, so I'm really happy with that."
Another Czech champion, Petra Kvitova, is also in action, as the 35-year-old, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, comes up against American 10th seed Emma Navarro.
Elena Rybakina, winner in 2022, takes on Armenian Elina Avanesyan, with the Kazakh 11th seed ready to impress once more at Wimbledon having reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals since her only Grand Slam title win.
WIMBLEDON ORDER OF PLAY ON MONDAY (prefix number denotes seeding)
CENTRE COURT (play begins at 1230 GMT)
17-Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic) v Alexandra Eala (Philippines)
Alexandre Muller (France) v 6-Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
Dayana Yastremska (Ukraine) v 2-Coco Gauff (U.S.)
COURT NUMBER ONE (play begins at 1200 GMT)
1-Jannik Sinner (Italy) v Luca Nardi (Italy)
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) v 10-Emma Navarro (U.S.)
4-Jack Draper (Britain) v Sebastian Baez (Argentina)
COURT NUMBER TWO (play begins at 1000 GMT)
Elisabetta Cocciaretto v 3-Jessica Pegula (U.S.)
Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia) 7-Lorenzo Musetti (Italy)
8-Iga Swiatek (Poland) v Polina Kudermetova (Russia)
10-Ben Shelton (U.S.) v Alex Bolt (Australia)
(Reporting by Trevor StynesEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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