Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick and Darren Cahill pick their favourites for opening the Center Court at 2022 Wimbledon in absence of defending champion Ash Barty
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Simona Halep, Iga Swiatek, Serena Williams - Contenders to open the Center Court at 2022 Wimbledon
The 2022 Wimbledon Championships are less than a week away with Day 1 of the tournament scheduled on the 27th of June, Monday. As per tradition, the defending champion opens the Center Court to kickstart the day’s proceedings. However, with the unexpected retirement of 3-time Grand Slam champion Ash Barty who was supposed to defend her title this year, there has been a lot of discussion on who will get the privilege of doing so.
The probable candidates reportedly in debate for the honour are World No. 1 and top seed Iga Swiatek, 7-time Wimbledon Champion Serena Williams, 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep and Emma Raducanu, possibly the brightest star in British tennis at the moment. While the official announcement is yet to be done, speculations and discussions have started in full flow about who should be the one opening the court.
Also Read: List of Top Seeds in Women’s Singles at Wimbledon 2022
Twitteratis join the conversation to suggest their pick for opening the play at the 2022 Wimbledon
A poll started by Tennis Podcast asked Twitter users who should open the play. Former coach of Halep, Darren Cahill backed Halep to be given the honour as she did not get a chance to open as the 2020 edition was cancelled and the Romanian had to miss the 2021 edition due to an injury which resulted in then World No. 1 Barty starting the proceedings.
Former World No. 1 and 4-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters agreed to have Halep as the one but also presented her thought of seeing Serena be allowed to open the court as she is the most decorated Grand Slam champion in Open Era and also a 7-time champion at the All-England Club. Former World No. 1 and 3-time runner-up at Wimbledon, Andy Roddick however supported Cahill and wished Halep be the one opening the Center Court.
Quite a few netizens were angry over Swiatek being ignored despite her ranking and coming into the Championships as the winner of the 2022 French Open. While quite a few argued that Karolina Pliskova be allowed as she was the runner-up but it remains a mystery until the official announcement is done.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)