Three weeks removed from Jack Draper's first ATP Tour title, the Briton faces Elias Ymer in the first round at Wimbledon, keen to build on a strong grass-court run.
The British No. 1 is making up for lost time after missing the entirety of last year's grass season, but he will be wary of his Swedish opponent, who came through qualifying.
Match preview
Draper enters Wimbledon keen to make his deepest run at the Championships, and he has reason to be optimistic heading into the third major of the year.
The 22-year-old claimed a first Tour title in Stuttgart three weeks back, beating 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini in the decider, thus becoming the British No. 1.
Defeating French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz the following week at the Queen's Club Championships undoubtedly announced him as a threat on grass this year, even if he fell to eventual winner Tommy Paul in the quarter-final.
Draper admitted to having expended a lot mentally into the second-round match against Alcaraz, and he had little left in the tank when his match-up with Paul reached a decider.
Having rested and recharged his batteries since losing at the Cinch Championships, Britain's leading player aims to start Wimbledon in top form as he seeks to match his best run at the Slam in the hope of ultimately eclipsing the 2022 run to the second round.
Standing in his path is Ymer, who came through qualifying after defeating Lukas Neumayer, Marco Trungelliti and Sho Shimabukuro en route to featuring at the Championships for the third time.
The 28-year-old dropped one set in said matches — in the second round of qualifying against Trungelliti — pointing to the player ranked 205 being in fine form heading into Tuesday's first-round clash.
However, Ymer's history of never going beyond the first round at Wimbledon counts against him, with a match-up against an in-form opponent an uphill task.
Given that appearances at this level have been few and far between for the Swede, a victory to match the 2018 French Open, where he made the second round, will make for an unexpected first-round shock result.
That outcome is probably unlikely, even if the qualifier will hope to make the most of another appearance at Wimbledon against a seemingly improving home opponent.
Head To Head
Helsinki (2019) - Round of 32: Ymer 6-3 3-6 6-4
While never meeting on the ATP Tour, the pair faced off in a Challenger Tour match in 2019, won in three by Ymer, but much has changed in the following five years in the lead-up to their first-round match-up at Wimbledon.
Draper has won seven of his eight matches in the lead-up to the Championships, with his sole defeat the loss to Paul at Queen's. Ymer is three from three on grass, even if it comes with the caveat of the Swede's perfect record coming against lower-ranked opposition.
We say: Draper to win in four sets
Despite Draper's commendable fine grass-court form since the cross-over from clay, keeping focused in a best-of-five match requires a higher level of physical or mental exertion. The Briton is expected to seal his place in the second round but may drop a set in the process.
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