Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls to face Russian seeds in ladies’ doubles opening round at Wimbledon 2023
Team Bath Tennis player Alicia Barnett and partner Olivia Nicholls have been drawn against Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova in their opening women’s doubles match at Wimbledon 2023.
It is a tough draw for the Brits against the number 9 seeds for the tournament, with Kudermetova having reached the final with Elena Vesnina on her last appearance at the All England Club in 2021.
The match is scheduled to be played when the doubles competitions get under way on Wednesday (5th July).
It is a second successive Wimbledon for Barnett and Nicholls, Britain’s leading women’s doubles partnership, having reached the second round on their debut in 2022.
Barnett, coached by Ian MacDonald at the Team Bath Sports Training Village, will also contest the mixed doubles having reached the quarter-final last year but is going into this year’s tournament determined to enjoy every moment.
“I’m going in just trying to enjoy being there because it’s not every day you can play at Wimbledon,” she told BBC Points West.
“You go into every tournament wanting to do the best you can and win the tournament but I’m not going to go in with any expectations. I want to focus on improving every day and I feel like I have improved since last year.”
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