Wimbledon 2024 preview: Injured Djokovic struggles as youngsters step up, Swiatek looks to find feet

Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova will defend their respective titles at Wimbledon which gets underway on Monday (1 July). Jannik Sinner will look to give Alcaraz competition for the title while World No. 1 Iga Swiatek will hope to finally find her footing on grass.

Before the grass court major and the third Grand Slam of the year gets underway, we take a look at the talking points.

Will Djokovic end title drought?

Eight-time champion Roger Federer is retired. Two-time winner Rafael Nadal is sitting out to focus on the Olympics on clay. Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic has just undergone knee surgery. Andy Murray, who triumphed at the All England Club in 2013 and 2016, has had a back operation.

More from Tennis

Why Novak Djokovic’s tennis calendar is under scrutiny as experts fear he could be left behind Federer India's historic tennis win: Sumit Nagal beats Henry Bernet as India reach Davis Cup qualifiers for first time

The result is that the 2024 Wimbledon men’s final could be the first in 22 years not to feature at least one of the storied ‘Big Four’.

Djokovic, 37, lost a thrilling five-set final to Alcaraz last year. And closed the year out with the US Open and ATP Finals titles. This year, however, has seen no final appearances, let alone a trophy .

He fell to Sinner at the Australian Open and saw the Italian triumph. At Roland Garros, he stuttered before withdrawing with a knee injury before his quarter-final.

Always a pleasure playing with you my friend. And having some laughs. Good luck 🍀 for Wimbledon. pic.twitter.com/xkyZm7LQVX

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) June 28, 2024

Djokovic’s movement wasn’t silky smooth in a 6-3, 6-4 win at London’s Hurlingham Club, with the right knee strapped up. But he struck the ball crisply and served well.

“I can tell you that I enjoyed myself really, really much today,” said Djokovic afterwards. “I can tell you that pain-free tennis is the best tennis. I was pain-free and I’m really glad. It was a great test obviously against one of the best players in the world.

“I’ve played a couple of practice sets but I really wanted to test myself. The test was very successful so I’m obviously really glad. It’s been an intense three week after surgery, spending a lot of hours rehabbing.”

Djokovic, whose tally of 24 singles titles at Grand Slam tournaments is the most won by any man in tennis history, added: “I kind of always wanted to give myself a chance to be in London. I think my surgeon is here. He’s the MVP (most valuable player) for sure the last three weeks.

“I’m trying to take it day by day and see how far it goes.”

Question marks over Andy Murray’s fitness

And that brings us to Andy Murray. Unlike Djokovic, the Briton has not hit the practice courts with all that frequency and left things until the time he is due to take court (on Tuesday).

Murray, 37, famously defeated Djokovic in the 2013 final, ending a 77-year wait for a British men’s champion at Wimbledon.

Now ranked at a lowly 115, Murray underwent a procedure to remove a cyst on his back.

“Maybe it’s my ego getting in the way, but I feel that I deserve the opportunity to give it until the very last moment to make that decision,” said the 37-year-old Murray, who plans to retire in the coming months. “It’s complicated, and it’s made more complicated because I want to play at Wimbledon one more time … so I’m going to give it as long as I can to see how well I recover.”

Instead of the singles, the All England Club announced that Murray and his older brother, Jamie, were granted a wild-card entry for men’s doubles.

“It has been mentioned to me: ‘Are you going to withdraw before the draw at 10 a.m. on Friday?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, no, I’m not. I’m going to wait until the last minute,” Murray said. “This is not clear-cut, where I am 100% going to be ready to play or there is a 0% chance that I can play. That is the situation. I would say it’s probably more likely that I’m not able to play singles right now.”

And that’s how it is. Andy Murray was drawn to face Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic. What is clear, though, is that the Scot has no plans to enter the US Open with Olympics expected to be his swansong.

Is the shift finally happening?

It has been said multiple times before but it has never felt this convincing - the youth movement has arrived.

In the men’s draw, it has been 21 years since at least one of the first two Grand Slam titles of the year wasn’t claimed by either Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.

It was Andre Agassi and Juan Carlos Ferrero at the 2003 Australian Open and Roland Garros respectively. Now, it has been Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

Alcaraz is the defending champion at Wimbledon and owner of three Grand Slam titles at the age of 21 after his triumph at Roland Garros. Sinner, 22, is the World No. 1 and top seed at Wimbledon.

Sinner became the first Italian to be top-ranked player and showed no sign of any burden from his lofty status when he claimed a maiden grass-court title in Halle last weekend.

“I’m looking forward to Wimbledon,” said Sinner who was a semi-finalist in 2023, losing to Djokovic in straight sets.

“I played some good tennis last year. I’m more confident for sure.”

Alexander Zverev, not young at 27, insisted that this year’s showpiece “is the most open in 20 years”.

“I think this is the most open Wimbledon Championship that we maybe had in 20 years in terms of favourites, in terms of potential winners,” said Zverev.

“I think there’s multiple guys who have a very decent chance of going deep and very decent chance of winning the tournament.

“I don’t think it has been like that for maybe 20 years since before Roger started playing, right? After Roger came Rafa, Novak, Andy. I really feel it’s different this year.”

Over on the women’s side, it will be the first Wimbledon since 1996 - 28 years ago - without either of the Williams sisters. Their names on everyone’s lips have been replaced by Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.

Swiatek, 23, is the top-seeded woman and just earned her fourth French Open title and fifth major overall.

Gauff, 20, is ranked a career-best No. 2, has reached at least the semifinals at the past three Slam tournaments and won her first such trophy at last year’s US Open.

Sinner vs Alcaraz again? Yes please

Besides being ones to separate themselves from the rest, Sinner and Alcaraz have forged a budding rivalry. “These two guys will win many, many Grand Slams. How many? That’s the question. Of course, they will be the best for 10 years, I imagine — Alcaraz and Sinner. I have no doubt about it,” said Richard Gasquet, a three-time major semifinalist, including twice at Wimbledon. “They will be the future of the game. … The new generation is coming.”

Both Alcaraz and Sinner excel in court coverage and big hitting. Both bring excitement whenever they’re on court with their creative shot-making or Sinner with his all-out dives along the way to his first career grass-court title at Halle, a rare instance of a man winning his first tournament after making his debut at No. 1.

“No one has ever played like Alcaraz. No chance. And Sinner? The same thing,” said Mats Wilander, a seven-time Slam champ in the 1980s. “They’re like, ‘Whoa! What and where did they come from?’”

They’re placed in the same half of the draw and can meet in the semi-final if both go all the way.

Will Swiatek find her footing on grass?

Swiatek will be desperate to transform her dominance of the women’s game from clay to grasss at Wimbledon. After yet another stellar clay court season, she would be keen to make herself count on her weakest surface.

But the Polish world number one faces a tough challenge on the grass at the All England Club from a powerful contingent including Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina.

If that wasn’t enough, the draw didn’t help. Swiatek, who has never been the quarters at Wimbledon, was given a path that could be filled with past Grand Slam champions.

Her opening opponent will be 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who eliminated Gauff in the first round at Wimbledon a year ago. Then there’s the possibility of going up against 2018 Wimbledon champ Angelique Kerber in the third round, 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth, and defending Wimbledon champion Vondrousova in the quarterfinals.

Women’s title contenders

Aryna Sabalenka was second best to Swiatek in the final of Madrid Open and Rome tournaments on clay but will fancy her chances on the quicker courts at Wimbledon.

The World No. 3, who missed Wimbledon in 2022 due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes over the Ukraine war, reached the semi-finals in 2021 and the same stage last year.

Her chances look slim this time after admitting to not being fully fit. She said she is “not 100% fit” while saying she has a “rare” injury with there being a “chance” she could pull out.

Others tipped for the Wimbledon crown are 2022 champion Elena Rybakina and last year’s US Open winner Gauff, who has never been beyond the fourth round.

Outside the WTA’s so-called “Big Four”, two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur, 10th in the rankings, will hope to make it third time lucky after reaching the final in the past two years.

Reigning champion Vondrousova turns from hunter to hunted after becoming the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon last year.

Wild card threats

Four Grand Slam winners – three of them mothers – have been given wild cards at Wimbledon – Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Emma Raducanu and Caroline Wozniacki.

Four-time major winner Osaka and three-time Grand Slam champion Kerber returned from maternity leave at the start of the season.

Osaka, who will be making her first appearance at the All England Club since 2019, reached her first grass-court quarterfinal since 2018 this month in ’s-Hertogenbosch and was the only player to take a set from Iga Swiatek at the French Open.

The Japanese player has struggled to make an impact since returning to tennis following the birth of her daughter last year and is a lowly 111th in the world.

Kerber, 36, has pedigree at Wimbledon, finishing as runner-up in 2016 and winning the title two years later but the German is now ranked 221st in the world.

Britain’s Raducanu exploded onto the scene at her first Wimbledon in 2021, reaching the fourth round weeks before she won the US Open as a qualifier, but she was knocked out in the second round the following year and missed last year’s tournament after surgery.

She comes in with added belief of picking up her first top-10 win against Jessica Pegula in Eastbourne but bowed out in the next round.

Former world number one Wozniacki, who has two children, has never been beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon.