When Wimbledon begins on Monday, many tennis fans will be hoping for a rematch of the Novak Djokovic-Carlos Alcaraz semi-final at the French Open that looked so promising for two sets until Alcaraz started cramping and quickly faded.
This time they were to meet in the final. And they would do it on a court where Djokovic, now the men’s all-time leader with 23 Grand Slam titles, has not lost since 2017.
In fact, if Djokovic were to win Wimbledon again, it would give him eight championships at the All England Club, matching Roger Federer’s record.
Djokovic is very likely to get through to the final again after the draw was revealed on Friday. On paper, there shouldn’t be many challenges for him apart from maybe Nick Kyrgios in the quarter-finals. (It’s unclear how fit Kyrgios even is for this tournament, having played just one match after a long injury layoff.) But given Djokovic’s consistency and ability on Wimbledon grass, it would be one of the biggest upsets in many year if he does not play on the last Sunday of the tournament.
Whether Alcaraz joins him is a bit more doubtful. The 20-year-old just doesn’t have much experience on grass, and it showed last year when he lost to Jannik Sinner in the fourth round. But Alcaraz started to look pretty good last week when he won the title at Queen’s Club, allowing him to regain the No. 1 ranking and the top seed in this tournament.
With Federer out and Rafael Nadal rehabilitating a long-term injury, the tennis world hopes Alcaraz can prove a worthy rival as Djokovic enters the final chapter of his career.
Here are four more things to know about the Wimbledon draw:
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Andy Murray can make a real run
Nothing would fire up the British crowd more next week than the 36-year-old, two-time champion playing his way into the second week. Murray hasn’t been the same player since his major hip surgeries in 2018 and 2019, but he’s still gunning for another big chance at Wimbledon.
This may be it.
Assuming Murray beats wildcard Ryan Peniston in the first round, he would likely face No. 5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round. Tsitsipas would be favored on any other surface but has a poor track record at Wimbledon and on grass in general with a career record of 17-13. It is a prime opportunity for Murray to crack the part of the draw that includes Wimbledon rookie Ben Shelton as the seeded player he would face in the third round and fellow Briton Cameron Norrie in the fourth round. It’s a potential recipe for something special.
The women’s field will have popcorn-worthy matchups in the first week
Rarely does a first-round matchup between two wild cards generate much buzz. But that will indeed be the case for five-time champion Venus Williams, who makes her 24th Wimbledon appearance against Elina Svitolina, the former top-five player who missed much of last season to have a baby. Svitolina has always been a popular player, but especially now that she is the most famous Ukrainian tennis player in history.
American tennis fans will be drawn to a first-round match between Coco Gauff and Sofia Kenin, who won the Australian Open and reached the French final in 2020 before her career was derailed by a series of injuries and personal issues. Kenin had to go through the qualifying tournament to reach the main draw and is trying to work her way back into the form that made her one of the best players on the tour a few years ago.
Defending champion Elena Rybakina, who has been battling a virus since the French Open, opens with American Shelby Rogers, who has pulled off some major Grand Slam upsets in the past.
And if form holds, there could be some dynamite matches in the third round, including two-time champion Petra Kvitova against 2021 finalist Karolina Pliskova and Beatriz Haddad Maia against Jelena Ostapenko.
The land of opportunity for the American men
Taylor Fritz believes he should be competing for Grand Slam titles, but the 25-year-old only has one quarter-final on his resume from last year’s Wimbledon. This should be his best chance to go even further.
Fritz, the No. 9 seed, moved into Casper Ruud’s quarter, where everyone would like Ruud to have not shown much interest in grass court tennis and is ripe to choose early in this tournament. Fritz and No. 8 seed Jannik Sinner will likely meet in the fourth round, with the winner possibly playing an unseeded player for the chance to reach the semifinals.
Frances Tiafoe, up to a career-high No. 10 ranking, should be full of confidence after winning a grass court title a few weeks ago in Stuttgart. He should easily reach the round of 16 and potentially meet 20-year-old Holger Rune, who has very little grass experience.
Grass may be Sebastian Korda’s best surface, and he’s in the wide-open neighborhood with Tsitsipas, so there’s a good chance he’ll go deep as well.
Expect a surprising women’s champion
As dominant as No. 1 Iga Świątek is on clay, her lack of a track record on grass inherently makes Wimbledon more interesting. Świątek’s baseline level is so high that she can absolutely go deep and even win this tournament, but she’s never been past the fourth round, and it’s just a whole different ball game on this lower-bouncing surface, where her heavy topspin isn’t as devastating to the opponents and she has less time to set up her forehand and dictate points.
Rybakina has arguably been the second-best player on tour this year, but she has played just two matches since the French and pulled out of a warm-up tournament this week with a virus that appears to have hit her hard.
Aryna Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion, has certainly played to win Wimbledon, but it is unclear where she is mentally after a truly devastating meltdown in the French semi-finals.
And then there’s Ons Jabeur, whose game is built for grass and lost to Rybakina in last year’s final, but has had a kind of mediocre year by her standards while battling various injuries.
With all that in the mix, it could be a wild, upset tournament. Good but overlooked players like Donna Vekic, Daria Kasatkina or even American Madison Keys have games suited to grass and are names to watch if the draw falls apart.
