Wimbledon
Wimbledon preview: Djokovic set for five-star performance
Tennis’ most prestigious Grand Slam gets underway in south-west London next week as Wimbledon commences . Who will be able to crown their grass-court season with a Grand Slam victory?
We take a look at the key players in the men’s and women’s singles competitions below.
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic heads to Wimbledon to defend his title for the fourth time in succession as the Serb looks to bag his fifth Wimbledon title in a row. A fifth successive title would put him in an elite group alongside Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer as those to have one the men’s singles title five times in a row, as well as levelling Federer with eight Wimbledon titles overall.
At the age of 36, Djokovic is showing no signs of slowing down and is having another successful year in 2023. He kicked off the year with a win at the Australian Open and matched that feat in Paris as he won the French Open with relative ease. Djokovic is halfway to winning The Grand Slam (when a player wins all four separate Grand Slam tournaments in one year) and he would become just the third male to achieve the feat.
Djokovic has every chance of being within one of the Grand Slam after Wimbledon as he heads into next month’s tournament as the 4/6 favourite, and there is no reason to believe that the seemingly unstoppable Serb would be anything other than that this year.
Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz is the rising star of tennis and the 20-year-old Spaniard has already risen to exceptional levels, and he will be hoping to secure his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon next month.
Alcaraz has had a year to remember in 2023, winning five ATP Tour titles already as well as reaching the semi-finals at the French Open before being defeated by Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz has had the perfect preparation for this year’s Wimbledon tournament after winning the Queen’s Club Championships in convincing style, a tournament that is seen to be the ‘warm-up’ to the Grand Slam.
Alcaraz heads to Wimbledon as the second favourite at 11/4, with a successful Queen’s campaign behind him and every reason to be hopeful of picking up a first Wimbledon title.
Check out all the latest tennis offers with William Hill
Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek rose to fame on the WTA Tour in 2020 at the age of just 19 when she won her first French Open title. She hasn’t looked back since, picking up three more Grand Slams including a US Open and another two French Opens, with the most recent of those coming this year.
Swiatek has one Grand Slam to her name this year, winning the French Open in June to claim her fourth grand slam. Along with that, she has one two WTA titles to reach double figures in her career.
The Polish star heads into Wimbledon as the 10/3 favourite to secure her first grand slam on grass, and her successes this year have given her a good platform on which to mount a winning charge at Wimbledon.
Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina has been a notable name on the WTA Tour since 2019 when she won her first title at just 20 years of age by tasting victory in the Bucharest Open. She has since won just three WTA titles, losing nine finals including the Australian Open final this year.
Rybakina heads into Wimbledon this year with a title to defend, winning the tournament last year after beating Ons Jabeur convincingly in the final. This was her first, and so far her only Grand Slam victory, and her only major victory on grass.
Rybakina heads into the women’s singles tournament as the second favourite at 4/1, and with a WTA 1000 title under her belt this year, along with the confidence of last year’s Wimbledon win, she will believe that she can make a successful defence of her title next month.
