Three to See, Wimbledon Day 1: Hurkacz vs. Davidovich Fokina; Raducanu vs. Van Uytvanck; Sinner vs. Wawrinka

Before each day's play at the All England Club, we'll preview three must-see matches.

Hubert Hurkacz vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

Hurkacz is hardly a household name, but he is a dark-horse contender for a Wimbledon title this year. He made the semifinals in 2021, and he just beat Daniil Medvedev to win a grass-court title in Halle. But he’ll have to clear a surprisingly high hurdle in his first-round match. Davidovich Fokina, ranked 38th, is among the most dangerous unseeded players in the draw. This spring he beat Novak Djokovic and reached his first Masters 1000 final, in Monte Carlo. More important, he has a 2-2 record against Hurkacz, and in their most recent meeting, on Madrid’s fast clay in May, he pushed the Pole to a third-set tiebreaker. There’s something about ADF’s muscular baseline game that the 6'5", lithe Hurkacz doesn’t like.

Still, even if Hubi doesn’t like the Spaniard, he should like the surface. Davidovich Fokina made the quarters in Queen’s Club two weeks ago, but he has yet to win a match at Wimbledon. Getting his first against the No. 7 seed will be a big ask. Winner: Hurkacz

Emma Raducanu vs. Alison Van Uytvanck

With Raducanu and Andy Murray on the schedule, Centre Court should be packed and rowdy—politely rowdy—on opening day. Raducanu made the fourth round here last year, and will be returning for the first time as a Grand Slam champion; surely she’ll feel the pressure of those expectations. In Van Uytvanck, she’ll also be facing an experienced major-tournament player. The 46th-ranked, 28-year-old Belgian is tall and rangy, has been to the fourth round at Wimbledon and the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, and had a couple of wins at a grass-court tune-up in her home country earlier this month.

What she doesn’t have is a win over Raducanu; the Brit won their only meeting, on hard courts, in Chicago last year. Raducanu has had an injury-plagued 2022, and was forced to retire from her only grass-court match. But she thrived on the energy at Wimbledon last year, and the fans should make her feel better again. Winner: Raducanu

Jannik Sinner vs. Stan Wawrinka

When it comes to age and ranking, there’s a lot that separates these two. Wawrinka is 37 and ranked 265th; Sinner is 20 and ranked 13th. That makes the Italian the heavy favorite, right? Probably, but nothing is for sure in this match.

Sinner had to retire with a knee problem at Roland Garros, and he played, and lost, just one match on grass this month. Wawrinka, meanwhile, is still getting his game and fitness up to speed after undergoing two foot surgeries in 2021. He showed some flashes of his old fight, and powerful ground strokes, in a three-tiebreaker win over Frances Tiafoe at Queen’s. Stan is also 2-0 against Sinner, though both wins came in 2019, when Sinner was a teenager. All of which makes this an intriguing and unpredictable cross-generational clash. Winner: Sinner