Defending Champs Mektic/Pavic, Top Seeds Ram/Salisbury Lead Wimbledon Doubles Draw

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic defeated Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the 2021 Wimbledon semi-finals en route to winning their maiden Grand Slam title as last year’s top seeds. Those two teams can only meet in the final this year in London, with Mektic/Pavic set to defend their title as the second seeds and Ram/Salisbury on the draw’s top line.

The Croatian defending champions are set to open their campaign against Benoit Paire and Albert Ramos-Vinolas, with a rematch of their Queen’s Club final against Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara looming as a potential third-round showdown in the draw’s bottom quarter. 

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Mektic/Pavic enter Wimbledon on the heels of an Eastbourne title for the second straight season and will look to extend an eight-match win streak that dates back to their Queen’s Club triumph earlier this month. Since they won their first tour-level title of the 2022 season at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Mektic/Pavic have won four of their past five events.

Also in the bottom quarter is the first-time pairing of Casper Ruud and American William Blumberg. The Norwegian Ruud reached the 2021 Wimbledon quarter-finals alongside Andre Goransson, and progressed to his first Grand Slam singles final last month at Roland Garros. Ruud/Blumberg face Nicolas Barrientos and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela in the opening round.

The draw’s third quarter is anchored by Roland Garros champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer. Seeded fourth, the Salvadoran-Dutch duo opens up against American Denis Kudla and Jack Sock and could face fifth seeds Tim Puetz and Michael Venus in the quarter-finals.

Atop the draw, Ram/Salisbury — seeking their third Grand Slam title (2020 Australian Open, 2021 US Open) — will face Daniel Altmaier and Carlos Taberner in the opening round. The American-British duo won its lone trophy of 2022 at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April.

The Wimbledon top seeds reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals without dropping a set before bowing out to Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in one of the most dramatic matches of the tournament, falling 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-7(10). A rematch could be on the cards in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Dodig and Krajicek, who went on the reach the Roland Garros final, are seeded eighth at Wimbledon and will take on Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey in the first round.

In the draw’s second quarter, third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, who lead the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Team Rankings behind their five tour-level titles in 2022, will face the Argentine duo of Facundo Bagnis and Diego Schwartzman in the opening round. Ninth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who have won two major titles together, also landed in that quarter and will open against the French team of Benjamin Bonzi and Arthur Rinderknech.