Herbal mood: what to expect from the Russians at Wimbledon

The third Grand Slam tournament of the year, Wimbledon, will be held from June 30 to July 13. Four of our tennis players and 11 tennis players will compete in the main draw. Traditionally, the greatest chances are spoken about in relation to the first numbers of the Russian rating — Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva. However, at least women have no less chances to get as far as possible in the tournament, even if the athlete has a lower rating. Who it is and what, in principle, to expect from our players at the British "major" — in the Izvestia article.

Hope for Medvedev

There is almost a standard set of our tennis players in the main draw of the men's singles tournament: the "big Russian three" (Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov), although this term has been losing its weight lately, and Roman Safiullin. Pavel Kotov and Alibek Kachmazov competed in the Wimbledon qualifiers, but both failed to overcome the first round.

All Russians got into the same half with the main favorite of Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz, who is defending his title for the second time in a row. The Spaniard demonstrated this summer that he still feels great on grass by winning the ATP 500 tournament in London.

Andrei Rublev has the earliest meeting with Alcaraz of our time. They can converge as early as the fourth round. But the Russian, who is seeded at Wimbledon at number 14, still needs to get to this stage. A year ago, Rublev left the tournament after the first round, losing in four sets to Argentine Francisco Comesanya.

This summer, Andrey was not impressed on the grass. Before Wimbledon, he showed up at the Halle tournament, where he won one match against Sebastian Ofner, but in the second round he ended up losing to Thomas Martin Etcheverry. Perhaps such a small monthly workload will benefit Andrey and he will be fresher at the major. And there is no special pressure on the Russian, because he does not need to defend points at Wimbledon right now. Rublev has a comfortable opponent in the opening round, Serbian Laszlo Gyere, with whom the Russian leads 4-0 in personal meetings.

Our other three players can only face Alcaraz in the semifinals. Daniil Medvedev has a good chance of being in it. The first Russian racket on grass courts began to find itself. In Halle, Medvedev was very close to the title, reaching the ATP finals for the first time in 13 months. But Alexander Bublik is demonstrating a miracle form this summer. The ex-Russian passed the world ranking leader Yannick Sinner in Halle, and dealt with Medvedev in a hard-fought two sets in the title match. Bublik is now being called the hidden favorite of Wimbledon.

Daniel, despite his defeat by Alexander, was pleased with his performance in Halle. He even called it almost perfect. According to him, he is 90% ready for the major. At Wimbledon, Medvedev was seeded at number 9. A year ago, he reached the semifinals here, in which he lost to Alcaraz. However, before that, the Russian dealt with the first racket of the planet Yannick Sinner.

If anyone can be expected to triumph among our women and men now, it's Daniel. He will face Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi in the first round. Of the top 10 players, Daniil may have potential meetings in the fourth round with Taylor Fritz (5th seed) and in the quarterfinals with Alexander Zverev (3rd), whom the Russian recently beat in Halle.

— If any of our guys reach the quarterfinals, it will be a great result. I don't see any candidates for victory. Medvedev? He came back for one tournament," says Soviet and Russian tennis player Andrei Olkhovsky.

American Mackenzie McDonald will be Karen Khachanov's opponent in the first round of Wimbledon. The Russian also feels good on the grass and made it to the semifinals at the German tournament, where he was stopped by a Bagel. The grid at the major looks quite favorable for the Russian, given his not—so-high 17th seeding number. Roman Safiullin, who is not among the seeded players, will start with a duel against Italian Luciano Darderi.

Andreeva's difficulties

The representation of Russian women in the women's singles tournament is solid. 11 of our tennis players entered the main draw directly: Mirra Andreeva, Diana Schneider, Lyudmila Samsonova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Anna Kalinskaya, Anastasia Potapova, Veronika and Polina Kudermetova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Anna Blinkova, Camilla Rakhimova. In addition, Anastasia Zakharova made it through the qualification.

Mirra Andreeva has the best chance among Russians. However, the Russian first racket is in crisis after Roland Garros, where she lost to French Lois Boisson in the quarterfinals with tears and arguments. The transition to a grass surface did not go well at all. Of the three singles matches, she won only one. In Berlin, Mirra and Diana Schneider finished their performance in the first round.

Of the Grand Slam tournaments, Wimbledon looks like Andreeva's least favorite. A year ago in the UK, she failed to reach the second round. But now Mirra has a good opportunity to buy points on this "major", because she can't lose them. The opponent in the opening match does not look formidable — Egyptian Mayar Sharif. Next, the Russian woman's opponents are also quite passable. In the third round, you can try to take revenge on Polish Magdalena French, who offended Andreeva at a recent tournament in Berlin, in the fourth — a potential meeting with American Emma Navarro.

We have those who like grass courts more than Myrrh. First of all, this is the third racket of Russia Ekaterina Alexandrova. In 'S-Hertogenbosch this summer, she suffered a painful blow when she missed 11 match points in the semi-final against Elise Mertens. But at the tournament in Bad Homburg, where Alexandrova fought Iga Sventek, it was clear that our tennis player had moved on from that failure.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who played in the semi-finals in Eastbourne, is experiencing another renaissance. Lyudmila Samsonova reached the same stage at the Berlin tournament. By the way, of the five WTA titles in her career, she won two in the short grass season.

Interestingly, these three Russian tennis players, who can achieve something serious at Wimbledon 2025, got the representatives of Australia in the first round: Alexandrova will face Priscilla Hong, Pavlyuchenkova — with Ayla Tomljanovic, and Samsonova — with Maya Joint.

Russian second racket Diana Schneider has a grass title in her collection, which she won last summer. But this season she lacks stability. In a month, Schneider managed to compete in three grass tournaments, but more or less succeeded only in 'S-Hertogenbosch — the quarterfinals. Wimbledon for Diana, who is seeded at number 12, will begin with a duel with Japanese Moyuka Uchijima.

— Mirra Andreeva was on the rise, but she's not showing any results on the grass yet. If someone gets to the semifinals, it will be a good result for us. It seems to me that a female couple can still play. But I don't think we have clear contenders to win Wimbledon in both men's and women's doubles," Andrei Olkhovsky believes.

In women's doubles tennis, not only Andreeva and Schneider can claim the title among Russians. Moreover, they lost their only joint match on a grass surface in their careers, which took place in Berlin this summer. But in June, our other tennis players won the finals of WTA tournaments: Irina Khromacheva with Hungarian Fanny Stollar in 'S-Hertogenbosch, and Alexandra Panova with Chinese Guo Hanyu in Bad Homburg.