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Wimbledon is widely considered the pinnacle of tennis and is the tournament that many players have dreamed of winning since they first picked up a racket.
Last year, Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in a hard-fought five sets in the men’s final, and Marketa Vondroušova became the first unseeded woman in history to win a Wimbledon title, beating Ons Jabeur.
Alcaraz comes into the tournament as the joint favorite to win the men’s title along with Jannik Sinner.
The Spaniard will be understandably feeling confident after winning a Masters 1000 title on the hard courts of Indian Wells this season and then his first French Open title on the clay courts of Roland Garros.
The third-seeded Alcaraz erased any doubts about her ability to adapt to grass by winning the Queen’s Club title in just her third grass-court tournament last season, setting up a springboard for success at Wimbledon just two weeks later.
But preparations at the All England Club this season have been less than ideal.
Alcaraz beat Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo in his opening match at Queens before losing in straight sets to British youngster Jack Draper in the second round.
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Alcaraz hit a return against Djokovic in last year’s men’s singles final.
Draper, ranked 29th in the world and a grass-court specialist, won his first ATP title at the Stuttgart Open two weeks ago and will be a major threat at Wimbledon this year.
Alcaraz will face Mark Rahal in the opening round.
Vondrousova, on the other hand, has clearly not had as much success this season.
The Czech star has reached just one semi-final this year, suffering a shock first-round defeat at the Australian Open to Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska.
Her confidence will have been boosted by her reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open, despite a heavy defeat to Iga Swiantek.
Vondroušová’s Wimbledon preparations got off to a good start with a straight-set win over Rebekah Massarova in the first round of the German Open in Berlin.
However, she was forced to withdraw from her second-round match against Anna Kalinskaya after slipping and injuring herself, and the 25-year-old has since chosen to withdraw from this week’s Bad Homburg Open to recover for Wimbledon.
Vondrousova will face Jessica Bouzas in the opening round.
Fans and organisers will be hoping that Novak Djokovic recovers from knee surgery in time for the start of the championships.
The Serb is aiming to equal long-time rival Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles, but it remains unclear whether he will take part.
Djokovic, the second seed, was forced to withdraw from the French Open fourth round after tearing the meniscus in his right knee while playing against Cernudolo, but underwent knee surgery on June 5.
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Novak Djokovic was forced to withdraw from the French Open due to a knee injury.
The 37-year-old has been working on the practice courts at Wimbledon this week but is yet to decide whether to play in any matches.
Djokovic will face Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic.
If Djokovic is unable to fully recover in time, world number one Sinner will be the biggest challenger to Alcaraz’s throne at SW19.
The 22-year-old became the first Italian player, male or female, to reach the world number one ranking after reaching the semi-finals of the French Open before losing to eventual winner Alcaraz in a hard-fought five sets.
These two youngsters are widely expected to be the next great rivalry in tennis, and the thought of them meeting in the semi-finals again is already a tantalising prospect.
During Sinner’s incredible first half of 2024, he lost just three matches throughout the year and won four titles, including his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open and a Masters 1000 title.
Sinner’s game, particularly the new and improved serve he introduced at the end of last season, is perfectly suited to the fast grass courts and his Wimbledon preparations are off to a good start after winning the first grass-court title of his career in Halle last week.
On the women’s side, world number one Swiatek is confident of reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time in her career.
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Swiantek won her fifth Grand Slam title at this year’s French Open.
The Pole has built a reputation as the tour’s most dominant clay-court player, winning four titles in his first six years at Roland Garros, but has so far been unable to replicate that form on grass courts.
Grass remains the only court where Swiantek has yet to win a senior title, but she is slowly becoming more comfortable at Wimbledon.
Her career struggles on grass are intriguing, given that she won Junior Wimbledon in 2018, the only Grand Slam title of her junior career.
Swiantek withdrew from the German Open just days after winning her fourth French Open title, so she will arrive at Wimbledon without any official grass court experience – her least favourite surface.
The top seed will face American Sofia Kenin in the first round.
Behind her will naturally be many big name athletes who are confident of winning the title.
Ons Jabeur, who has twice lost in finals and is currently seeded 10th, is likely to find herself in the latter stages again, while 2022 champion Elena Rybakina has won three WTA titles this year while battling illness, but had to withdraw from the German Open last week with abdominal pain.
Australian Open champion and two-time SW19 semi-finalist Aryna Sabalenka will be looking to keep her striking power up until the end, while new world number two Coco Gauff will be eager to improve on her career-best fourth-round results achieved in 2019 and 2021.
