The No.3 seed will open against Shelby Rogers, who has notched seven Top 10 wins in her career and who has defeated Rybakina twice in five previous meetings. In the second round, she could face Alizé Cornet, whose 25 wins against Top 10 opponents include an upset of Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon 2022 that snapped the World No.1's 37-match winning streak.
Three of this year's grass-court tournament winners have also landed in Rybakina's quarter: Nottingham champion Katie Boulter, Birmingham champion Jelena Ostapenko and Berlin champion Petra Kvitova. There could also be a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final in the quarterfinals, where Rybakina is projected to face No.6 seed Ons Jabeur.
Swiatek, fresh off a successful Roland Garros title defense, will open against Zhu Lin, while No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka starts against Panna Udvardy. Sabalenka could face a rematch of the Roland Garros semifinals, where she lost from match point up to Karolina Muchova, in the last 16.
The intriguing opening-round matchups include wild cards between seven-time major champion Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina, who returned from maternity leave in April, and No.7 seed Coco Gauff against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who successfully came through qualifying this week.
Despite being a former Wimbledon junior champion, it's no secret Swiatek feels she has yet to fully work out grass courts. She made her first grass-court semifinal in Bad Homburg this week before pulling out with an illness. The highest-ranked player standing between Swiatek and a first Wimbledon quarterfinal is No.14 seed Belinda Bencic, who withdrew from all her pre-Wimbledon grass warm-ups with an injury.
Swiatek is projected to face No.7 seed Gauff, against whom she has yet to lose a set in seven meetings, in the quarterfinals. Gauff, currently in the Eastbourne semifinals this week, has some intriguing obstacles in her way. Her head-to-head against first-round opponent Kenin is all square at one win apiece, and the 2020 Australian Open champion is in strong form, dropping just 14 games in three qualifying matches.
Gauff could also meet the winner of the Williams-Svitolina matchup in the third round, followed by either No.11 seed Daria Kasatkina or No.19 seed Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round.
First rounds to watch: Martina Trevisan vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo; Linda Fruhvirtova vs. [30] Petra Martic; [28] Elise Mertens vs. [Q] Viktoria Hruncakova; [WC] Venus Williams vs. [WC] Elina Svitolina; [Q] Sofia Kenin vs. [7] Coco Gauff
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