Wimbledon Qualifying Begins Monday; Kokkinakis Faces Tough Draw

Australian star Thanasi Kokkinakis is among the players who will be in action Monday at Wimbledon, where qualifying action will get underway.

The 27-year-old, who reached the second round of the main draw last year at SW19, will open against #NextGenATP Swiss Leandro Riedi. If he advances, an accomplished veteran will be waiting.

If Kokkinakis wins, he will play the winner of Oscar Otte and Benoit Paire. Otte enjoyed a breakout grass-court season in 2022, when he reached the semi-finals in Stuttgart and Halle before advancing to the third round at Wimbledon. Paire made the fourth round at the grass-court major in 2019.

There is a blockbuster first-round qualifying matchup between first seed Matteo Arnaldi, who upset Casper Ruud in Madrid, and Shang Juncheng. Shang has successfully qualified for the season’s first two majors.

Also in action will be third seed Fabian Marozsan, who upset Carlos Alcaraz in Rome. The Hungarian will face Ukrainian Oleksii Krutykh.

Hyeon Chung, the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals champion, will compete in Wimbledon for the first time since 2015 when he faces Dimitar Kuzmanov.