There are plenty of tennis players who might be daunted by the prospect of making their Grand Slam debut against someone ranked No. 1 and in a big stadium - in this case, Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon's No. 1 Court.
Carson Branstine, though, is embracing the circumstances she'll find herself in Monday. Branstine, 24, is a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen - she was born in California and represents Canada, where her mother is from - and helped Texas AM win the 2024 NCAA title. She is ranked just inside the top 200, but made it into the women's bracket at the All England Club by winning three matches in qualifying last week.
"It's not like I'm a beginner. This is my job, too. We're playing the same tournament, right? It's just exciting. It's cool. And I love that for myself," Branstine said. "You never know what can happen. And I like it. I wouldn't want it any other way. This is the coolest thing."
Besides, facing, and eliminating, the top seed is becoming routine lately for her: This is the third consecutive event this month where Branstine is going up against a foe seeded No. 1. She beat Liudmila Samsonova at a grass-court tournament in the Netherlands, then started off Wimbledon qualifying by defeating Lois Boisson , who was coming off a surprising run to the French Open semifinals.
"Well, of course I go out with: Why not? Because there's a lot of factors in tennis, more than just playing. You never know what can be happening on each side, behind closed doors. It's Wimbledon. It's Sabalenka's first round you've seen a lot of players have tight matches in their first rounds against players that you'd never imagine that it would be close," Branstine said. "That could easily happen on Monday. You never know. With my game, maybe God's going to come down and say, 'You're going to have the best tennis of your life. You're not going to miss a single ball right now.'"