By CNN
—
Wimbledon is widely considered the crown jewel of the tennis calendar, a tournament many players have dreamt of winning since they first picked up a racket.
Last year, Carlos Alcaraz downed Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller in the men’s final, while Markéta Vondroušová became the first unseeded woman in history to win the Wimbledon title after beating Ons Jabeur.
Alcaraz goes into the tournament as the joint favorite, alongside Jannik Sinner, to win the men’s title.
The Spaniard will justifiably be feeling confident after winning a Masters 1000 title on the hard courts of Indian Wells this season, before claiming his first French Open title on the Roland Garros clay.
Alcaraz, the No. 3 seed, silenced any doubts around his ability to adapt to the grass last season by winning the Queen’s Club title in only his third grass court tournament, which provided the springboard for his Wimbledon success just two weeks later.
This season, however, preparations for the All England Club have been less than ideal.
After beating Argentina’s Francisco Cerúndolo in the opening round of Queen’s, Alcaraz was upset by British youngster Jack Draper in straight sets in round two.
Draper, the world No. 29 and a grass court specialist, will be a real threat at Wimbledon this year after winning the first ATP title of his career at the Stuttgart Open two weeks ago.
Alcaraz will play Mark Lajal in the opening round.
Vondroušová, meanwhile, has enjoyed decidedly less success this season.
The Czech star has reached just one semifinal all year and was shocked by Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska in the first round of the Australian Open.
Reaching the quarterfinal of the French Open will have been a confidence boost, despite being comfortably beaten by Iga Świątek.
Vondroušová’s Wimbledon preparations got off to a solid start with a straight-sets win over Rebeka Masarova in the first round of the German Open in Berlin.
However, she had to retire injured after slipping during her second-round match against Anna Kalinskaya, and the 25-year-old subsequently opted to withdraw from the Bad Homburg Open this week in order to recover for Wimbledon.
Vondroušová faces Jessica Bouzas in the opening round.
The challengers
Fans and organizers alike will be hoping that Novak Djokovic recovers from knee surgery in time for the start of the championships.
The Serb is bidding to equal long-time rival Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles, but his participation remains in doubt.
Djokovic, the No. 2 seed, tore the meniscus in his right knee during his fourth-round match against Cerúndolo at the French Open and had to withdraw, before undergoing knee surgery on June 5.
The 37-year-old has been hitting on the Wimbledon practice courts this week though he still hasn’t decided if he will compete.
Djokovic has been drawn against the Czech Republic’s Vít Kopřiva.
If Djokovic is unable to recover fully in time, world No. 1 Sinner will be the biggest challenger to Alcaraz’s crown in SW19.
The 22-year-old became the first Italian man or woman to reach No. 1 in the world rankings after his run to the semifinals at the French Open, where he was defeated in a five-set thriller by eventual winner Alcaraz.
The two youngsters have been widely tipped to provide tennis’ next great rivalry and the thought of them meeting in the semifinals again is already a tantalizing prospect.
Sinner has lost just three matches all year en route to four titles during what has been a phenomenal first half of 2024, including his maiden grand slam at the Australian Open and a Masters 1000 title.
Sinner’s game, in particular the new and improved serve he introduced at the end of last season, is perfectly suited to the fast grass courts, and he got his Wimbledon preparations off to an auspicious start with his first career grass court title in Halle last week.
In the women’s draw, world No. 1 Świątek will be confident of reaching the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time in her career.
The Pole has built a reputation as the most dominant clay court player on tour, winning four titles in her first six years at Roland Garros, but has so far been unable to replicate that form on the grass.
Grass remains the only surface on which Świątek hasn’t won a senior title, though she is slowly starting to look more at home at Wimbledon.
Her career struggles on grass are curious, especially given that she won the Junior Wimbledon title in 2018 for the only grand slam title of her junior career.
Świątek pulled out of the German Open just days after winning her fourth French Open title, meaning she will arrive at Wimbledon on the surface she likes the least without any official grass court matches under her belt.
The No. 1 seed will play America’s Sofia Kenin in the first round.
Behind her, a whole host of names will be rightly feeling confident of taking the title.
Two-time losing finalist Ons Jabeur, now the No. 10 seed, will likely be in the latter stages once again, while 2022 champion Elena Rybakina has battled through illness this year to pick up three WTA titles but had to withdraw from the German Open with abdominal pain last week.
Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, a two-time semifinalist in SW19, has the big-hitting game to go all the way, while new world No. 2 Coco Gauff will be eager to improve on her career best performance of the fourth round achieved in 2019 and 2021.
