Wimbledon 2025 preview: Sinner, Djokovic plot to prevent Alcaraz hat-trick; Gauff, Sabalenka to resume rivalry in women's singles

The Hindu

a day ago

Carlos Alcaraz will aim to reinforce his status as the new all-court monarch of men's tennis with a third successive Wimbledon title while his chief challenger Jannik Sinner heads to London for revenge after coming off second best in an epic French Open final.
Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic must defy age and the odds in what may be the 38-year-old's best opportunity to claim an elusive 25th Grand Slam crown after losing to Alcaraz in the previous two title clashes at the All England Club.
Jack Draper will shoulder the burden of British expectations following Andy Murray's retirement while other contenders led by Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz continue their bid for a first major to end the recent duopoly of Alcaraz and Sinner.
Victory this month in the longest French Open final since tennis turned professional in 1968 meant Alcaraz kept his title while he and Italian Sinner have now lifted seven of the last eight majors to assert their supremacy.
A Wimbledon hat-trick will put Alcaraz in elite company as the fifth man in the Open Era to lift three straight titles at the famous manicured lawns, with the 22-year-old set to join Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Djokovic.
Trademark flair
Adapting to grass after a long clay season is crucial to any player's chances but Alcaraz has managed it with trademark flair even if the five-time major champion describes the jarring gear shift as "enjoyment and suffering" in equal measure.
"It's a bit of everything," said Alcaraz, who improved his career win-loss record on the sport's slickest surface to 29-3 with a magnificent run to the Queen's Club title.
"Ultimately it's a surface we don't play many matches on each year, and you have to learn from every experience on it, from every match you play.
"Every player is different with a different style on grass. You have to keep learning and getting to know yourself ... even when the numbers are in your favour."
Sinner is a little more accomplished than former U.S. Open winner Alcaraz in terms of hardcourt Grand Slam success but the New York and Melbourne champion sometimes slips up on grass and fell early to Alexander Bublik in the Halle tune-up event.
A premature end to the world number one's title defence in Germany leaves him somewhat undercooked for Wimbledon, where his best display is a run to the semi-finals in 2023.
The 23-year-old, who served a three-month ban this season for doping violations, said he would benefit from another short break ahead of the Championships that begin on Monday.
"I gave it my all after the Roland Garros defeat, it wasn't easy. Despite everything, I'm happy enough," said Sinner, who squandered three championship points during his five-set defeat by Alcaraz in Paris.
"I played two matches before Wimbledon, if there had been more, it would have been better. Now I've got to boost myself both mentally and physically, that takes a little time."
Lacklustre year
Refreshed by his charge to the Roland Garros semi-final in an otherwise lacklustre year, Djokovic will bid to reach another Wimbledon final without playing any tune-up tournaments but few will write him off in his bid for more glory.
While Djokovic will be motivated by the chance to match his now retired rival Roger Federer's eight Wimbledon titles and go joint top of that list, surpassing Margaret Court's haul of 24 majors will be foremost on his mind.
"I'm going to do everything possible to get myself ready," Djokovic said, looking ahead to Wimbledon after losing at the French Open to Sinner.
"My best chances maybe to win another Grand Slam are Wimbledon, or a faster hard court, maybe Australia."
Hoping to flip the script at Wimbledon will be world number three Zverev, who has lost three Grand Slam finals in his career and is running out of time to add his name to honour roll, while Fritz will fancy his chances after winning the Stuttgart title.
Also in the reckoning are Halle runner-up Daniil Medvedev and his conqueror Bublik, whose unorthodox ways can cause some problems for the big names in the next fortnight.
Eyes on Gauff, Sabalenka
The Wimbledon women's throne has turned into tennis' version of musical chairs with new champions in the last seven years and all signs point to another one as Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff resume their simmering rivalry on the pristine lawns of London.
The All England Club has not crowned a repeat champion since 2016 when Serena Williams captured the 22nd of her 23 Grand Slam trophies and the chances of injury-hit holder Barbora Krejcikova rediscovering her miraculous level from 12 months ago are slim.
Elena Rybakina and Marketa Vondrousova, whose names precede Krejcikova on the iconic honours board, remain dangerous players on the sport's fastest surface but all eyes will be on the women who contested an error-strewn but enthralling French Open final.
American Gauff prevailed in this month's Roland Garros title clash against Belarusian Sabalenka and the 21-year-old will head to the venue of her breakthrough as a teenager in 2019 eager to finally conquer grass after claycourt and hardcourt success.
Gauff did not enjoy a good start to the grass swing after suffering a stunning second-round loss to Wang Xinyu in Berlin, but former Wimbledon quarter-finalist CoCo Vandeweghe said the two-time major champion will learn from the experience.
'I don't think this shakes her confidence,' Vandeweghe told the Tennis Channel.
'This isn't going to be her best surface, but you know what she's going to do? She's going to take this loss and really work on herself. That's what we've seen time and time again from Gauff. She's the ultimate competitor.
'That's what we always see from Coco, as much as we talk about the negative aspects of what goes wrong in her game, what we don't talk about enough is what goes right.'
Point to prove
Sabalenka, who was beaten by Gauff in another long final at the U.S. Open two years ago, will also have a point to prove in London with the three-time major winner looking to make up for lost time after missing last year's Wimbledon with injury.
Since then she has contested three successive Grand Slam finals, triumphing in New York last September but failing to add to her major trophy haul with runner-up finishes in Melbourne and Paris.
Despite being one of the most consistent players over the last two years, marked by a rise to the top spot in the world rankings, Sabalenka has yet to solve the puzzle that grass poses having lost both of her finals on the surface.
The 27-year-old reached the Berlin semi-finals before crashing to eventual champion Vondrousova and will be eager to quickly rediscover the form that can devastate her opponents.
'The grass season is a short one, only a few tournaments before Wimbledon,' Sabalenka said after beating Rybakina in the Berlin quarter-finals.
'I wanted to play some matches, I wanted to remember how to play on grass and I'm happy I got what I did.'
Madison Keys became the latest entrant into the Grand Slam champions' club with an inspired run to the Australian Open title earlier this year and the stage is set for the big-hitting American to prove she is no one-hit wonder.
Vondrousova will have a similar mindset after the former world number six, ranked 164 at the start of the Berlin tune-up event, became the lowest-ranked champion in the tournament's history after dismantling Keys and Sabalenka along the way.
Iga Swiatek will also hope for the rub of the green after a torrid spell following her short ban for a doping violation last year as she looks to go past the quarter-finals of Wimbledon for the first time and add to her collection of five major titles.