Today at 13:00 Bulgarian time starts the 138th edition of the British Open tennis championship. It will be historic, as for the first time there will be automatic electronic judges instead of traditional linesmen. The starting time of the finals is also new - they will start at 18:00 instead of 16:00 Bulgarian time. The reason lies in the organizers’ desire to attract a larger audience from North and South America. Wimbledon ends on July 13, and the women’s and men’s champions are Barbora Krejcikova and Carlos Alcaraz, respectively.

Alcaraz has triumphed at the All England Club in the last two years, with seven-time champion Novak Djokovic invariably becoming his victim. After a five-set battle in 2023, the Spaniard swept the former No. 1 in three sets last year. Alcaraz begins the defense of his title in the third Grand Slam tournament of the year against Italian veteran Fabio Fognini. Carlos is seeded No. 2 in the main draw, potentially playing in the 1/4-finals with Dane Holger Rune.

Leading the way among the seeds is world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who will try to overcome the disappointment of losing the five-set final of Roland Garros to Alcaraz. Sinner has already shown signs that he has not completely recovered from the defeat after a 2-0 set lead, after losing to Alexander Bublik in Halle. His first opponent on the Wimbledon courts is his compatriot Luca Nardi. No. 3 in the schedule Alexander Zverev opens against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech. Home hope Jack Draper, seeded fourth, starts against Sebastian Baez of Argentina, while American Taylor Fritz, seeded fifth, who warmed up with titles in Stuttgart and Eastbourne, faces a tricky obstacle in Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France.

Djokovic, who last triumphed in London in 2022 and has consistently reached the final in the last six editions of the tournament, faces Alexandre Muller in the first round. The Joker is seeded sixth and could face Draper in the quarterfinals. Other interesting pairings at the start of the All England Club include Gael Monfils vs. Ugo Humbert, Nikoloz Basilashvili vs. Lorenzo Musetti, Jaume Munar vs. Bublik, Matteo Arnaldi vs. Botic van de Zandschulp, Francisco Cerundolo vs. Nuno Borges, Rune vs. Nicolas Jarry, Jacob Fearnley vs. Joao Fonseca and Cameron Norrie vs. Roberto Bautista Agut.

World number 719 Oliver Tarvet also made it into the main draw. The 21-year-old home representative defeated world number 144 Alexander Blockx from Belgium 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. This was Tarvet's first match in the three-out-of-five-set format. His victory means 23 British players (13 men and 10 women) will be in the home Slam singles, the highest number since 1984, when nine men and 14 women took part. Tarvet, who is from St Albans, competes in the American college system - he has one year left until he graduates from the University of San Diego. Most college sports in the US are strictly amateur, so Tarvet is unlikely to be able to collect the bulk of the £66,000 prize money for reaching the first round of the main draw.

On the women's side, Krejcikova, seeded 17th, opens her campaign against the Philippines' Alexandra Eala, who warmed up for Wimbledon with a dramatic final loss in Eastbourne. Krejcikova has to grit her teeth after a hip problem forced her to withdraw from the same tournament on British soil.

Otherwise, world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka is the first seed. The Belarusian starts against Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine. Interestingly, Sabalenka could face a tough opponent in the third round in the form of former champion Marketa Vondrousova or home favorite Emma Raducanu. Roland Garros winner Coco Gauff is the second seed. The American has a tough opponent in the opening round – Diana Yastremska from Ukraine. A potential match with Victoria Azarenka in the second round and a meeting with former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the third await Gauff in the first week of the tournament. No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula, winner of Bad Homburg, opens against Elisabetta Cociaretto of Italy, while last year's finalist and fourth seed Jasmine Paolini plays Latvia's Anastasia Sevastova.

Qinwen Zheng and Madison Keys, who are ranked 5th and 6th, play Katerina Siniakova and Elena-Gabriela Ruse, while seventh seed Mira Andreeva starts against Mayar Sherif of Egypt. Eighth seed Iga Swiatek starts against Polina Kudermetova. Other intriguing women's matches include Vondrousova vs. McCartney Kessler, Paula Badosa vs. Katie Boulter, Yulia Putintseva vs. Amanda Anisimova, Petra Kvitova vs. Emma Navarro and Karolina Muchova vs. Xinyu Wang.

On the men's side, Grigor Dimitrov is seeded 19th and starts against Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka on Tuesday. So far, the two have had three official matches, with all three going to the Bulgarian's account. Grigor's last victory came at the Masters in Rome last year. Dimitrov's best result on the "sacred grass" was in 2014, when he reached the semifinals. There, he was eliminated after a tough battle with Novak Djokovic. In addition, Grigor has reached the round of 16 three more times, including the last two years. Last year, he lost at this stage to Daniil Medvedev, after withdrawing due to injury in the first set. The 34-year-old from Haskovo has not played on grass this season, recovering from an injury that forced him out of Roland Garros. If he overcomes Nishioka in the opener, he will face either Francisco Comesaña of Argentina or Frenchman Corentin Moutét, who played his first final in over five years in Mallorca. Grigor's potential opponent in the third round is 13th seed Tommy Paul.

Bulgaria's best female tennis player, Viktoriya Tomova, was unlucky and will face two-time finalist Ons Jabeur from Tunisia in the first round in one of the first matches in London. The African lost the title fight in 2022 and 2023 and is now unseeded in the tournament draw. Tomova and Jabeur have one match between them – the Tunisian won convincingly in the qualifiers of the tournament in Hong Kong in 2018. For Tomova, Wimbledon is the most successful Slam tournament – ​​three second-round results (2018, 2022 and 2023). Last year, she was eliminated at the start by China's Xinyu Wang in three sets. If she manages to beat Jabeur, Tomova will play one of Sonay Kartal from Great Britain or 20th seed Jelena Ostapenko. In the third round, she could potentially face number 12 in the main draw, Diana Schneider from Russia.

Wimbledon's total prize money is £53,550,000 – a 7% increase on the 2024 edition. The men's and women's winners will walk away with checks of £3 million each, or in other words a jump of over 11%, and the finalists – with £1,520,000 each. | BGNES