Carson Branstine has qualified for the first Grand Slam event of her tennis career and will face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Monday on the opening day of Wimbledon.Sarah-Jäde Champagne/The Canadian Press
Carson Branstine overcame cramps, wind, rain, and a couple of high-profile opponents to qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon for the first time in her career.
She’s 24 years old, ranked 197th in the world and was the only one of seven Canadian players to get through last week’s qualifying tournament in London. After winning her final match on Thursday, Branstine was asked who she would like to face in the first round at Wimbledon which starts Monday. “It would be great to play, you know, a big name or something,” she replied.
She got her wish.
Branstine is set to play world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Monday at 8 a.m. ET in one of Wimbledon’s famed show courts.
Such is the life of a qualifier. At Wimbledon, much like the other Grand Slams, players ranked outside the top 100 must win three matches in three days of qualifying in order to get into the main draw.
A total of 128 men and an equal number of women vie for 16 spots in each competition. Since qualifiers essentially fill out the brackets, they almost always face top seeds in the first round of Wimbledon and they almost always make a quick exit.
Wimbledon’s qualifying tournament is held at the Community Sport Centre in Roehampton, a sprawling complex in southwest London where rows of grass courts are spread out in an open field. Last week players had to contend with blustery conditions, occasional showers and the periodic noise of jets making their final approach to Heathrow Airport.
Branstine, who was born and raised in California and claimed Canadian citizenship through her mother, did not have an easy time.
Her first-round opponent was French sensation Lois Boisson who advanced to the semi-finals of the French Open. Branstine won 6-2, 6-7, 6-4. She then went up against Canada’s Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, and scored a major upset, winning 7-6, 4-6, 6-1.
Her last match was against Raluka Serban of Cyprus. A few dozen fans stood along the sides of the court and watched as Branstine lost the first set and recovered to win 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.
Aryna Sabalenka admits to not knowing a lot about Branstine heading into Monday's match. She said her team was studying her game through the weekend.John Walton/The Associated Press
“I would argue I had probably the toughest draw in this whole qualifying,” Branstine said as she slumped in a chair after the match. She felt terrible from the start and began cramping in the second set, which was held up for about an hour because of a shower. “During the match, I was just like fighting myself the entire time.”
Branstine used to be one of the rising stars of tennis. She won junior Grand Slam doubles titles with Andreescu in 2017 at the Australian Open and French Open. But she’s been bedeviled by injuries — she’s had surgery on both hips and both knees — and feels that she’s finally beginning to fulfill her potential.
“I know I have the tools. It’s just kind of a waiting game. And finally, this week, it took care of itself, and I was able to come up with the right shots, the right moments,” she said.
She’s the first to say that her serve, backhand and athleticism are as good as anyone else on the tour. “There’s never been one match that I’ve played in my life, not one, where I felt like I was genuinely outplayed,” she said. “I’ve never felt like someone was out-hitting me.”
Her fierce competitiveness comes out on court, and she can be as vocal and expressive as many other players, including Sabalenka. During the match against Serban, she frequently yelled at herself after missing a point and whacked her thighs in disgust.
“Anyone who knows me knows that off the court I’m the most relaxed, chill person, and then on the court it’s like a different person,” she said. “I’m crazy in a way, but I think it’s a good thing, actually, because I never give up. I fight so hard, and I think this is a perfect display of that.”
Her confidence and playing ability will be severely tested by Sabalenka.
The hard-hitting Belarusian has dominated the tour this year and she’s considered a favourite to win her first Wimbledon title, to go along with her three other Grand Slam victories. She made the finals of this year’s Australian Open and French Open, losing the latter in an error-filled performance that left her in tears. After the match she suggested that her opponent, Coco Gauff, hadn’t won as much as Sabalenka had lost, after piling up 70 unforced errors.
She has apologized for her remarks and on Saturday went out of her way to make up to the American. “I didn’t really want to offend her. I was just completely, like, upset with myself, and emotions got over me,” she said. Goff has accepted the apology and insisted that the players remain friends.
Sabalenka doesn’t know much about her Canadian rival, other than her appearance. “The other day I opened social media, and she was giving interview. I think she just qualified. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this girl is so beautiful,’” Sabalenka said Saturday, not realizing that Branstine is a professional model.
Her coaches will analyze Branstine’s matches and come up with a strategy. “It’s not easy to face someone you’ve never seen before and, yeah, you never had a chance to see her game,” she said.
Branstine will enjoy the limelight for as long as it lasts. There have been some memorable upsets by qualifiers over the years; Britain’s Emma Raducanu won the U.S. Open in 2021 as a qualifier, John McEnroe got all the way to the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 1977 after qualifying, and qualifier Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine progressed to the semi-finals of the Australian Open last year.
“I think that I have nothing to lose at this point,” Branstine said. “So, I just need to go out there and enjoy it.”