The singles draws are set for the third Grand Slam of the season. The 2019 Wimbledon main draw will feature five Canadians, as Milos Raonic, Félix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Vasek Pospisil and Eugenie Bouchard are all set to compete on the grass courts of the All England Club.
Milos Raonic, the tournament’s 15th seed, will face Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India in the opening round. He is in the same quarter of the draw as Kevin Anderson (no. 4) and Alexander Zverev (no. 6), who he could potentially face in the fourth round and quarter-finals, respectively. Despite playing in only a handful of tournaments in 2019 due to injury problems, he has managed to go on a few deep runs, including to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and two ATP semi-finals. Raonic has had some impressive results on the grass in the past, having finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 2016 and reaching the quarter-finals in the last two years.
There will be an all-Canadian match-up in the first round, as the 19th seed Félix Auger-Aliassime will take-on Vasek Pospisil, who is returning to action after more than eight months away due to a back injury. The two have only met once in their professional careers, where the 18-year old from Montreal got the better of his compatriot in the first round at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells last year. The winner of this match could potentially go on to face Grigor Dimitrov in the second round, Gael Monfils in the third round and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.
Gabriela Dabrowski (Ottawa, ON) will be the tournament's fourth seed in doubles. Pospisil is also set to compete in the men's doubles draw.
Three Canadian players were in qualifying action earlier this week, as Peter Polansky (Thornhill, ON), Brayden Schnur (Pickering, ON) and Steven Diez (Toronto, ON) all fell short of a spot in the main draw. Schnur lost in the final round of qualifying and is first on the list to receive a Lucky Loser spot if a player in the main draw withdraws.
For his part, Denis Shapovalov, the 29th seed, will be looking to better his second round performance at last year’s tournament. In the opening round, he is set to face Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania. The Canadian faces a tough draw, with a potential match-up against Rafael Nadal in the third round, Marin Cilic in the fourth and Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals. Since the start of the year, Shapovalov has reached the semi-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami and secured two important wins for Canada at the Davis Cup against Slovakia. In the Ladies’ draw, Eugenie Bouchard is the lone Canadian in singles action. The 25-year-old will face Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia in the first round. This will be the first meeting between these two players. The Montreal native could potentially face Qiang Wang of China in the second round and then Elise Mertens (no. 21) and Kiki Bertens (no. 4) in the third and fourth rounds, respectively. Bouchard has battled injuries since the start of the season, playing in only a few tournaments. At Wimbledon last year, she qualified for the main draw and managed to reach the second round. Her best result came in 2014 when she reached the final.8 months since my lower back injury in October of last year, and undergoing surgery, I'm ready go! Wouldn't want my comeback tournament to be any other than @Wimbledon. So happy to be back and grateful for being healthy & ready for competition again. #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/amCRnkvgcK
— Vasek Pospisil (@VasekPospisil) June 24, 2019
Gabriela Dabrowski (Ottawa, ON) will be the tournament's fourth seed in doubles. Pospisil is also set to compete in the men's doubles draw.
Three Canadian players were in qualifying action earlier this week, as Peter Polansky (Thornhill, ON), Brayden Schnur (Pickering, ON) and Steven Diez (Toronto, ON) all fell short of a spot in the main draw. Schnur lost in the final round of qualifying and is first on the list to receive a Lucky Loser spot if a player in the main draw withdraws.
