Four Florida women’s tennis alumnae are competing at the 139th edition of the Wimbledon Championships, an event considered by many to be the pinnacle of professional tennis.
Alicia Dudeney, who attended UF from 2021-25, makes her first-ever appearance at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, competing in both singles and doubles, while McCartney Kessler, who was in Gainesville from 2017-22, makes her third singles appearance and her second in doubles. Anna Danilina, who played for the Gators from 2015-18, is competing in doubles for the fourth time, and Ingrid Neel, who spent 2016-17 at Florida, is participating in doubles for the fifth time.
Ladies’ singles competition begins on Monday, June 29, while doubles competition begins on Thursday, July 2.
Dudeney, who competes under the United Kingdom flag and is a wild card entry in the tournament, already faced American Alycia Parks in the first round and was defeated in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. Kessler, who represents the United States and is ranked at No. 57, shut down Ukraine’s No. 53-seeded Oleksandra Oliynykova, 6-0, 6-0, in the first round on Monday and will face top-seeded and top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the second round.
Dudeney will compete in the doubles event alongside fellow UK partner Mimi Xu as wild card entries, while Kessler is partnered with Diana Shnaider. Kazakhstan’s Danilina will play alongside Serbian Aleksandra Krunic — who are ranked No. 3 as a pair — and Estonia’s Neel is partnered with Giuliana Olmos of Mexico.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Four Florida Gators alumnae competing at Wimbledon Championships
Reporting by Adam Dubbin, Gators Wire / Gators Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Adam Dubbin, Gators Wire | USA TODAY Network
