Wimbledon 2022: Britons to the fore, as top-10 seeds Raducanu and Norrie win openers

Last year, Cam Norrie just made the cut for the Wimbledon seedings, starting the tournament as No29: His first seed happened to be Roger Federer, and he lost in the third round.

But things have moved on apace for the man who is now the top-ranked British man, and this year, he is the No9 seed.

The reason was simple: last year, he reached six finals, including Queen’s, and won two titles. One of them was perhaps the biggest Masters in the calendar, Indian Wells, and he has won two more titles this year to hit a career-high ranking No10 this April.

It has been a quiet, impressive and consistent rise in form and results from one of the fittest and most durable athletes on the tour, and he has managed to remain pragmatic about his status in the eyes of the British public. For there is no getting away from the fact that former world No1, former Wimbledon and Olympic champion, Andy Murray, draws the cameras and the headlines—now closely followed by the startling surge of Emma Raducanu.

The 19-year-old Briton hit the ground running right here last year, having played and lost just one main-tour match before taking a wild card into Wimbledon. Raducanu headed straight to the fourth round, then piled up the wins in North America, culminating in its crowning glory, the US Open, via qualifying and 10 straight-sets matches.

She went on this year to win enough matches on clay to continue her rise to a career-high No11, and thus took her place among the top-10 seeds at Wimbledon this year.

Norrie, for his part, was yet to reach the fourth round at any Major, and he admitted ahead of his Wimbledon campaign that reaching the second week on his home turf was an important target:

“It’s a big goal for me. I’d like to tick that box obviously. Played third round a few times now. Obviously helps with the seeding and having a slightly better draw… A long way to go, a lot of tennis to be played. I think if I keep doing more of the same, I’ve got a lot of improvement and a lot of upside in my game still.”

And asked if he was bothered by the UK spotlight focusing elsewhere, he was dignified:

“I think with everything Andy’s done in his career, being a champion here, I think
it’s fair enough… If that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is. If I’m winning matches, I’m happy. If I’m losing matches, I’m not happy. I’m not really bothered about that too much.”

His first seed this time would be a lower-ranked one, though still a tough customer, former semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov, who beat him in the first round of Queen’s. And if Norrie should make that milestone fourth round, it could become very formidable, with one of the form grass players in the draw, Halle champion, Hubert Hurkacz.

First things first, though, and it would be a first-time meeting with the 100-ranked Pablo Andujar. The 36-year-old Spaniard had won just three matches here in eight visits, and only seven matches this year. There was also no doubting that clay was his favourite surface, which had yielded all his finals, though he had not reached a final in more than three years.

It fell to Norrie to be the first to fly the home flag in the tournament, though the grey clouds were ominous. Rain was promised for the first time since Wimbledon began with qualifying rounds and practice sessions more than a week ago.

But it held off until Norrie had pounded to three breaks and a 6-0 first set in just 23 minutes. He had made just one error to 10 by the Spaniard, but as the rain began, Andujar stemmed the flow with a swift break in the first game of the second. Then the All England Club went into overdrive as the court covers were deployed.

When they came back after an hour or so, he got the break back in the third game, and now with both playing at full tilt, it headed to a tie-break. There, Norrie aced for a 4-1 lead, and took the hour-long set, 7-6(3).

Grey clouds gathered again, but Norrie took an early break in the third, and had chances to close it out at 5-3, but at deuce, with Andujar serving to save the match, the heaven’s opened, and they had to wait… Finally, they were back, and in a matter of minutes, Norrie had done the business, 6-3, a good two-hour workout.

He will next play Jaume Munar, but that potential fourth-round Hurkacz danger was averted. In the match of the day, and the first at Wimbledon to use the final set tie-break decider to 10 points, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina had three match-points in the third set, Hurkacz fought back to level at two sets apiece, and then led in the fifth before the Spaniard broke back for 5-5. Hurkacz also led in the tie-break, 7-4, but ultimately the Spaniard won a stunning contest, 7-6(4), 6-4, 5-7, 2-6, 7-6(8).

Norrie was one of four British men due to be in action on opening day—from nine in the draw altogether—and Murray would later enjoy the oh-so-familiar surroundings of Centre Court, the scene of Wimbledon and Olympic victories.

He played James Duckworth, who had the unenviable target of trying to become the first player ever to beat Murray in the first round at Wimbledon. Murray had shown some of his old grass magic in reaching the Stuttgart final, only to pick up an ab strain in his long three-set loss to Matteo Berrettini.

He could have done worse as an unseeded player than to draw No74-ranked Duckworth, a man who had hip surgery in January and missed four months of the season. If there was one man who knew about hips, and how to come back from multiple major surgery, it was Murray, and he was certainly favourite to extend the eight-match losing streak of the Australian.

There were also five British women in action on Monday, from eight in the draw. Raducanu, of course, was the star of that particular line-up. However, she opened against the dangerous Alison Van Uytvanck, who was ranked just one place below the No32 seed. The Belgian had won two non-tour events this grass season, too, so was well bedded in. And that skill—lots of slice and angle—showed immediately, and it took Raducanu time to read and defuse the Belgian’s game.

The Briton needed 10 minutes to hold for 1-1, but from there, both women served more easily before an exchange of breaks at 4-4. Raducanu then broke again to serve for the set, and although it took her a few attempts, she finally got the fans on their feet, 6-4. She then had five chances to break in the first game of the second, but again they exchanged breaks, before Raducanu got the key breakthrough to serve for the match, and sealed the deal, 6-4, in what had been a predictably stern test.

Raducanu is in the same small section as two British wild cards, and was scheduled to face either Lily Miyazaki or French woman Caroline Garcia, in the second round, with the chance of Katie Swan in the third—though Swan’s opening match against Marta Kostyuk was postponed to Tuesday.

As for Miyazaki, ranked 234, and switched to British nationality just this spring, she made a huge impact against the former world No4 Garcia, pressing the Frenchwoman to a deciding tie-break, but Garcia edged it, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4).