Wimbledon 2023: could we have a first-time champion?

Whether you are fortunate enough to have a ticket for the Championships, soaking in the sunshine of Centre Court with your Pimm’s or alternative beverage of choice in hand (or maybe just the classic strawberries and cream), or you’re tuning in from the comfort of your living room, this year’s Wimbledon promises to be another unmissable event in the sporting calendar. 

On Monday 3 July, the historic tournament, celebrating its 136th edition, gets underway with the main draw of both men’s and singles action, as well as the singles and mixed doubles competitions. Wimbledon 2023 is just days away, with seasoned champions, newcomers, qualifiers, and wildcards all vying for their place in the history books and their share of the total tournament prize money of £44,700,000 (£2,350,000 awarded for both the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ singles champions). 

Let’s take a dive into the key headlines of recent tournaments and assess which players are best placed to mount a title challenge. 

Starting on the ATP side, it is getting a little predictable at this point, but can anyone see past Novak Djokovic for the men’s title? The recent French Open Champion – his third title on the Parisian clay – notched a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam, pulling one clear of great rival Rafael Nadal in the all-time race. On course for the Calendar-year Grand Slam, with two down and two to go, the Serb comes into the event oozing confidence, and despite the rarity of the feat – no male singles player has won all four majors in a calendar year since Rod Laver in 1969 – he will be fancying his chances of completing the set. 

The seven-time Wimbledon champion, unbeaten at the event since 2017 when he was forced to retire against Tomas Berdych, is pursuing his fifth consecutive title. He is once again playing for history, seeking to equal Roger Federer on eight titles, and tie Margaret Court on total majors won, on 24.

Djokovic’s most likely rival for the title is surely none other than the new World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. The 20-year-old from Murcia has just put himself firmly in the mix for Wimbledon after triumphing at the Queen’s Club Championships, the highest profile of the warm-up tournaments, in what is the first grass-court title of his still fledgling, but improbably successful career. After a slow start in his opening round match, in which he dropped the first set, Alcaraz quickly found his footing on the London grass. His blistering power off the forehand, reaching speeds of 100mph, provoked veteran tennis pundit Andrew Castle to pronounce that he had “never seen anything like that”, and “it’s the noise off the racquet, it’s such a destructive shot”. 

By winning Queen’s, Alcaraz becomes the youngest player since Leyton Hewitt in 2000 to conquer one of the pre-Wimbledon grass-court tournaments and now enters the most historic Grand Slam as the top seed for the first time, though he himself has been quick to play down the significance of the seeding: “Of course, recovering the No. 1 before Wimbledon, it gives you extra motivation, it gives you extra confidence coming into Wimbledon. But it doesn’t change too much if I play Wimbledon as the No. 2 or the No. 1.”

That said, over the years Queen’s has proved a key preparation tournament for players to adjust to the surface change after the clay swing and gain confidence on the grass, especially important given the tight turnaround time following Roland Garros. The numbers speak for themselves as several illustrious champions, such as John McEnroe, Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have all lifted the Queen’s trophy before going on to triumph at SW19. Can Alcaraz add his name to the list? 

According to Paul Annacone, former coach to grass-court greats Federer and Pete Sampras, Alcaraz is the best equipped to challenge Djokovic, saying “he can hurt you [in] so many ways”. It must be remembered however that in their most recent meeting, the mental and physical strain of facing the Serb caused Alcaraz cramps in the much-anticipated semi-final at the French Open. The question marks remain over Carlitos’ resistance over the five-set distance, we shall see if he has gained strength from that difficult occasion.

Other names worthy of mention from the men’s draw include two-time former champion Andy Murray, who just missed out on achieving a seeding for the Championships, despite an impressive streak of 10 consecutive victories, which included two title wins, albeit on the lower-ranked Challenger Tour. A first-round exit at Queen’s put an end to the Briton’s chances of amassing the necessary points to climb into the Top 30 of the rankings, and he will now have to rely on the luck of the draw without the protection of being seeded, though Murray himself will be a dangerous opponent for any player and one the seeds will be eager to avoid. 

Meanwhile, the relatively unheralded Alexander Bublik enjoyed a rich vein of form at the Halle Open in Germany, having produced a dominant serving performance to take down four seeded opponents in Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev, on his way to lifting the title. The Russian-born Kazak will be hoping to continue his streak and have a deep run at Wimbledon, where he has never before reached the second week. Another intriguing question is how dangerous Norwegian World No. 4 Casper Ruud could be, following his run to the final in Roland Garros. One of the most consistent performers on tour, with three Slam final appearances in the last 12 months, Ruud will be anxious to improve on his previous best at the All-England Club (2nd Round). 

Where the men’s draw looks to be more of a closed shop, the women’s field would appear to be far more open. World No. 1, Iga Swiatek, it must be said, has yet to prove herself on grass, a number of perhaps forgotten or lesser-known competitors should be considered firmly in the mix for the title. While on the clay of Paris Swiatek is clearly the overwhelming favourite, the women’s game lacks an equivalent dominant grass-court player in the way Djokovic has seized control of the Wimbledon for most of the last decade. The last five women’s singles editions have seen five different champions – Serena Williams was the last female player to defend the Wimbledon title in 2016 – could we be set to see another maiden Ladies’ singles champion? 

In-form players to watch out for include Petra Kvitova, having claimed the 31st title of her career at the German Open. A seasoned competitor, the Czech 33-year-old has strong grass court pedigree, having won Wimbledon twice, though in recent years has become perhaps a forgotten name at the top end of the sport, having not reached a Slam final since 2019 with her second and last Grand Slam victory coming nine years ago. Though it would appear Kvitova has a new lease of life and has been putting an impressive run of results together this year. The German Open victory is her second title this year after picking up the Miami Open in April, where she defeated current World No. 3 Elena Rybakina in the final. Could we see the Czech left-hander power her way through the draw like she did in 2014 to claim her third Wimbledon title?

Rybakina herself comes into Wimbledon as defending champion and should surely be one of the stand-out favourites, though her withdrawal from the Eastbourne International this week must be a cause for concern ahead of Wimbledon. Moscow-born Rybakina is still recovering from a virus that forced her to cut short her participation in the French Open, and has taken the precautionary decision to pull out of Eastbourne, citing the need for extra rest ahead of the Championships. It remains to be seen whether she will be in the physical condition to mount a fully-fledged, unhindered defence of her title. 

The other main contender must surely be current Australian Open champion and World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. One of the form players this year along with Swiatek, having won the Madrid Open and reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros, the big-hitting Belarussian will have a point to prove after being banned from last year’s tournament along with her compatriots and the Russian players. On paper Sabalenka has a game well suited to the grass, where her powerful groundstrokes and huge serves skid through the slippery surface, and as the ball bounces low, the shots prove very tricky to return. Her first target must surely be improving on her previous best result of semi-finals achieved in 2021.
 

Latvian former World No. 5 Jelena Ostapenko – winner at the recent Birmingham Classic – is another player coming into the event with Grand Slam-winning pedigree (victorious at the French Open in 2017). By prevailing in several tight three-set matches in Birmingham, Ostapenko has banked some very valuable confidence on the grass ahead of next week. A previous semi-finalist at SW19, she will be hoping to continue the momentum and put together a deep run at Wimbledon. 

As always, the storylines and narrative ahead of this third Grand Slam of the year are fascinating and ever-changing. With 1xBit, stay tuned for more hot takes from the most important sporting events from around the world!