Alex de Minaur vs Roberto Carballes Baena Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - Demon to cruise in Wimbledon opener

De Minaur has mixed memories of Wimbledon 12 months ago - he advanced to first quarter-final at the tournament, but was also forced to withdraw from his scheduled showdown with Novak Djokovic due to a hip injury sustained on the match point of his R16 win over Arthur Fils. That hip problem plagued him for the remainder of 2024, but the Aussie appears to have put that injury behind him.

However, de Minaur did mention burnout following his second round French Open defeat to Alexander Bublik - and he hasn't won match on grass in the lead-up as a result. In saying that, de Minaur has enjoyed the rest he craved and he really couldn't have asked for a better opening round draw, with Carballes Baena only winning one match at Wimbledon from six main draw appearances. It's a good matchup overall, with Demon simply doing everything better than his Spanish opponent - if fit, he should be winning this one with minimal fuss.

De Minaur leads 2-0 at tour-level, prevailing 26 64 62 in their most-recent encounter in the second round of Antwerp last year.

De Minaur comes into this clash with a 27-12 record on the season, but recently dropping outside of the top 10 for the first time in a year.

The Aussie started the season strongly with a quarter-final showing at the Australian Open and runner-up finish at Rotterdam, along with reaching the semi-finals on clay at the Monte-Carlo Masters.

However, it's safe to say de Minaur has been below his best for the last couple of months, culminating with that shock defeat to Bublik in the second round of the French Open, where he led by two sets before succumbing in five.

De Minaur returned to action at Queen's Club for his only warm-up event on grass, but was a bit unfortunate to draw eventual runner-up Jiri Lehecka in the first round, suffering a heavy 6-4 6-2 defeat.

As mentioned, de Minaur made his first Wimbledon quarter-final last year and risks a further slide down the rankings by not repeating that effort this fortnight.

Carballes Baena heads into this clash with a 9-12 record at tour-level this season, operating 25 spots below his career-high ranking at No. 74.

Like his opponent, Carballes Baena did most of his good work at the start ot the year, reaching the Auckland quarter-finals before a solid third round run at the Australian Open.

The Spaniard kicked off his clay swing with a semi-final finish at Marrakech, but suffered an injury at the Rome Masters that forced him out of the French Open and meant he didn't play any lead-in tournaments on grass.

Carballes Baena has a 1-5 record at Wimbledon, with his lone win at the tournament coming in 2023 when he defeated Matteo Arnaldi.