Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek will look to continue their winning runs as Wimbledon prepares for another unusual edition of The Championships.
After 2020’s Covid-related cancellation and last year’s restrictions, the tournament will appear normal from the outside for the first time since 2019.
But Wimbledon’s decision to bar Russian and Belarusian players in response to the invasion of Ukraine has had serious repercussions, with the ATP and WTA deciding to withhold ranking points from the tournament.
The prestige and record prize money will ensure few leading players join the likes of world number one Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka in watching from the sidelines, but it is a topic that will rumble on through the fortnight.
Swiatek and Nadal have both had injury concerns since lifting the trophies at Roland Garros, with Nadal’s chronic foot problem thought likely to rule him out.
But the 22-time grand slam champion is set to play at the All England Club for the first time since 2019 after nerve treatment, and is half way to a calendar Grand Slam, which has not been achieved on the men’s side since Rod Laver in 1969.
Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt, whose career was nearly ended by a foot problem, has been left in awe by Nadal’s resilience.
“The foot is probably one of the hardest things to come back from,” Hewitt told the PA news agency.
“And that’s what makes this last French Open so remarkable, even the Australian Open, how he was able to come back in that final, because I don’t think he’s anywhere near 100 per cent physically.”
Nadal’s two slam titles this year have broken the tie with his great rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the race to finish on top of the
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