Everything is ready in London for a new edition of Wimbledon to start on MondayThe historic British Grand Slam held its draw on Friday, which left some stellar pairings right from the first round.
Whether Novak Djokovic would be present or not was one of the big unknowns of the day. Finally, the Serbian has decided to take a risk and take part in the tournament even though it is not even three weeks since he underwent meniscus surgery after being forced to withdraw at Roland Garros.
He will face Vit Kopriva in his debut on Tuesday and has a feasible draw until the quarterfinalswhen Hubert Hurkacz, one of the best services on the circuit, and Alex de Miñaur, winner in S’hertogenbosch, appear.
The Australian has precisely seen how his first rival changed at the last minute. A few hours after the draw, the loss of Frenchman Corentin Moutet due to injury was made public.who will be replaced by the player with the highest ranking of those who fell in the last round of the qualifying phase, the Australian James Duckworth.
“Since my preparation for Roland Garros, I have been dealing with a bone bruise. Despite trying everything possible to recover and be ready for Wimbledon, the pain persists“wrote the Frenchman on his Twitter account.
“After careful consideration with my team and doctor, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the tournament.“This is not a decision we take lightly, but it is necessary to ensure that I do not jeopardise my participation in the upcoming Olympic Games,” he added.
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For his part, Carlos Alcaraz was fortunate to be paired in the first round with the 262nd in the world, the Estonian Mark Lajaland will have a more or less smooth road to a hypothetical semi-final, where he could cross paths with Jannik Sinner, avoiding Novak Djokovic until the final.
Lajal will come to this match after passing the Wimbledon qualifying phase against three tennis players with a higher ranking than him, Passaro, Rocha and Duckworth, but this 21-year-old, 1.91 tall Estonian should not be a problem for Alcaraz who could face each other in the second round with Aleksandar Vukic and Sebastian Ofner and whose first serious test would not be until the third stage, when Frances Tiafoe appears on the horizon.
The American, however, has been a shadow of his former self since eliminating Rafael Nadal at the US Open in 2022 and in fact comes to this tournament with many doubts, after injuring his knee following a fall at Queen’s less than two weeks ago.
From there, Alcaraz could face Ugo Humbert in the round of 16. The Frenchman is a good player on grass, with the title in Halle last year as a credential, but this season he is disappointing on the surface with defeats in the first rounds of Queen’s and Mallorca.
In the quarter-finals, Casper Ruud, who is allergic to grass, appears. He is the only player in the top 40 who has not played in a grass tournament. this year or the most likely Tommy Paul, champion at Queen’s last week and one of the few who can boast of having a head-to-head tie with Alcaraz, whom he has defeated on two occasions.
Having lost the status of second seed, by giving up the 500 points as the winner of Queen’s, Alcaraz starts this tournament as the third favorite and that means he has to face Jannik Sinner, world number one, in a hypothetical semifinals, while avoiding Novak Djokovic until the final.
Alcaraz will have the privilege of inaugurating the center court on Monday at 2:30 p.m. (Spanish peninsular time) as the current champion.
According to the draw, based on the rankings, the quarter-finals would face Sinner vs. Daniil Medvedev, Alcaraz vs. Casper RuudAlexander Zverev vs. Andrey Rublev and Djokovic vs. Hubert Hurkacz.
2024-06-28 13:57:27
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