Former Gamecocks set for big-time matchups at Wimbledon. One to face Rafael Nadal

Two former South Carolina men’s tennis players will be playing in the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.

Both Paul Jubb and Francisco Cerundolo are playing in the tournament for the second time and will be facing top-50 ranked opponents.

Cerundolo will take on 22-time Grand Slam title champion Rafael Nadal on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. on Centre Court. Nadal is the No. 2 seed in the tournament and is the No. 4 ranked player in the world. Cerundolo himself is the No. 36 seed in the tournament and currently sits at No. 42 in the world ranking.

Jubb is scheduled to match up with Australian veteran Nick Kyrgios. While he might not have the pedigree of Nadal, Kyrgios still has six singles titles in his career and currently sits at No. 40 in the world rankings and is the No. 38 seed in the tournament.

A time and date for the match between Jubb and Kyrgios was to be determined as of Monday afternoon.

A native of England, Jubb is currently ranked at No. 219 in the world rankings. He played for South Carolina from 2016-20 and is likely best known among Gamecocks fans for his historic junior season in 2018-19.

That season he went 38-4 in singles play and won the NCAA singles national championship, becoming the first to do so in program history. He also finished No. 3 in the nation in singles, which was the program record until it was tied by Daniel Rodrigues in 2021.

Cerundolo’s time with the Gamecocks was brief, leaving Argentina and joining the team in fall 2017 before departing the program after January 2018 to pursue his professional career. As a Gamecock, he was 6-3 in singles play and 4-3 in doubles play.

Jubb made his first appearance at Wimbledon in 2019 as a wild card and will do so again this year. Cerundolo made it to the third qualifying round of the tournament last year.