First-round competition at Wimbledon will continue on Tuesday, when 2023 NextGen Stars Arthur Fils and Dominic Stricker go head-to-head. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Thanasi Kokkinakis are also taking the court.
(17) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
Surprisingly, Auger-Aliassime and Kokkinakis will be squaring off for the first time in their careers when they clash in round one of Wimbledon on Tuesday. Neither man has played particularly well in 2024, which means this could come down to the surface. Grass definitely favors Auger-Aliassime, who reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2021 and is a two-time Stuttgart runner-up. The 17th-ranked Canadian is modest 20-14 this season and has not yet won a match on grass.
Kokkinakis is a horrendous 9-17 lifetime on the green stuff. Moreover, the oft-injured Australian goes into the All-England Club as a question mark because he withdrew prior to a Queen’s Club qualifying and has not played since. Kokkinakis has advanced to the second round–and never further–at Wimbledon just once in six lifetime trips. Asking him to do it a second time at the expense of a capable grass-court player is probably too much.
Pick: Auger-Aliassime in 4
Arthur Fils vs. Dominic Stricker
Stricker retired from a semifinal match at the 2023 NextGen ATP Finals because of a back injury and missed the first five months of this season. The 21-year-old finally returned for the grass-court swing and played a trio of Challenger events, grabbing a mere one win to show for his efforts. Some consolation is that he pushed both Dan Evans (in Nottingham) to three sets and David Goffin (in Ilkley) to a pair of tiebreakers.
It was at the NextGen ATP Finals where Stricker lost to Fils in four sets, a result that tied up their head-to-head series at 1-1. The Swiss left-hander had previously prevailed 7-6(4), 7-6(4) on the red clay of Gstaad. Whereas Stricker has mostly been idle of late, Fils has continued to rise. The 20-year-old Frenchman has earned 16 ATP-level match victories in 2024 and at No. 34 in the world is on the brink of being seeded for Grand Slams. Fils did not quite snag a seed for this event, but it should not matter in the opening round against a rusty opponent.
Pick: Fils in 4
