The third slam of the season is upon us as 128 men descend upon London, England, for the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. The All England Club draw has given us some scintillating first-round matchups, including No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner vs Yannick Hanfmann. As always, we at LWOT have our roundtable predictions for all the Wimbledon action. Ateet Shrivastava, Damian Kust, and Jordan Reynolds offer their insights.
Wimbledon Men’s Day 1 Predictions
Ben Shelton vs Mattia Bellucci
Ateet
Ben Shelton’s performance has been disappointing since he won in Houston. Despite having a big serve, he is having problems on grass and is still finding a way to improve on this surface. Mattia Bellucci will make his Wimbledon main draw debut thanks to his stellar performance in qualifying. His big serve will help him take care of his service games and keep the scoreboard ticking but Shelton will just have a little too much up his sleeves.
Prediction: Shelton in 4
Damian
Shelton is going to be vulnerable early as he can’t seem to find his grass court game at all this year. He’ll get there at some point in the future, but Bellucci’s lefty serving can be similarly effective with more focus on angles than power. The Italian also has so much variety in his repertoire, this looks open.
Prediction: Bellucci in 5
Jordan
Shelton struggled at the grass court events he played before Wimbledon. He needs to be wary against Bellucci, who was very impressive in his three matches to qualify. Shelton’s imposing game is still favoured to win, but this could be very tight.
Prediction: Shelton in 5
Cristian Garin vs Juncheng Shang
Ateet
Cristian Garin had to miss last year’s Wimbledon due to injuries but he made the quarterfinals in 2022 and the fourth round in 2021. This shows he is comfortable on grass and has the game to trouble the seeded players. Juncheng Shang is a great talent who has shown his glimpses here and there but has yet to have a breakthrough tournament. He played a good tournament in Eastbourne, beating some higher-ranked players. Garin has more experience at this level and that might be the difference.
Prediction: Garin in 5
Damian
Garin went on a run the last two times he played Wimbledon before having to skip it last year. This one is going to be tight with Shang having so much natural talent, but also being way more volatile than the Chilean. It might be that consistency and ability to win points with more predictable patterns that helps out Garin here.
Prediction: Garin in 4
Jordan
Both players have some momentum heading into this match. Former quarterfinalist Garin played well to qualify, while Shang reached the quarterfinal in Eastbourne as a qualifier. I like Garin’s chances more in this matchup. His intense and consistent style is capable of disrupting Shang.
Prediction: Garin in 4
Otto Virtanen vs Max Purcell
Ateet
Virtanen is a qualifier who has a big serve and makes lots of aces. He will make his Wimbledon debut against Max Purcell, who is in great form and made his first ATP final in Eastbourne. It will give Purcell a lot of confidence and his slices and great net play will make life uncomfortable for Virtanen. Purcell should handle this comfortably.
Prediction: Purcell in 4
Damian
Virtanen saved an insane eight match points in the qualifying (4 vs Agamenone, 4 vs Ritschard) and who knows, maybe that can really open him up here. The talent is there and he just needs to get these focus issues sorted out. Last year, he played one of the best matches of his career against Purcell in the Lille final.
Prediction: Virtanen in 5
Jordan
Purcell comes into this match after a run to the final in Eastbourne. His serve-and-volley style is obviously most suited to grass. That brand of tennis is likely to have too much for Virtanen, who is set to play in his first Wimbledon main draw match.
Prediction: Purcell in 3
Casper Ruud vs Alex Bolt
Ateet
Casper Ruud for the second year in a row, opted to not play a warm-up event on the grass and will play the qualifier Alex Bolt, who has lots of matches under his belt. Bolt can trouble Ruud but the level gap is big here and Ruud will find a way to come through this match.
Prediction: Ruud in 4
Damian
Ruud’s mindset during the grass swing has always been pretty weird and we can’t know for sure if he’s more positive towards the surface now as he didn’t play any warm-up events. He can win a few rounds just on quality alone, but has to be careful here with Bolt having so much grass experience (116 pro matches!).
Prediction: Ruud in 4
Jordan
Ruud elected not to play any warmup events before Wimbledon, and he is one of the best seeds to play at SW19, due to his struggles on grass. By contrast, Bolt is most comfortable on grass and this could be a battle. Overall though, I think enough of Ruud’s quality will appear to take him through to the next round, even though he is unlikely to go far at the tournament.
Prediction: Ruud in 4
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey – USA TODAY Sports
