Carlos Alcaraz was lucky in the Wimbledon draw, He will be drawn in the first round against world number 262, Estonian Mark Lajal, and will have a relatively easy path to a hypothetical semi-final, where he could meet Jannik Sinner, avoiding Novak Djokovic until the final. The reigning Wimbledon and Roland Garros champion will try to continue on his winning path.
Lajal is already in the game. After passing the qualifying round against three players with a higher ranking than himPassaro, Rocha and Duckworthbut this 21-year-old, 1.91 meter tall Estonian should not be a problem for a Spaniard who could face off in the second round with Aleksandar Vukic and Sebastian Ofner and whose first serious test would not be until the third stage, when he appears in the horizon Frances Tiafoe.
The American, however, is a shadow of himself since he eliminated Rafael Nadal at the US Open in 2022 and in fact he arrives at this tournament with many doubts, after injuring his knee following a fall at Queen’s less than two weeks ago.
From there, Alcaraz could face Ugo Humbert in eighths. The Frenchman is a good player on grass, with the title in Halle last year as a credential, but this year he is disappointing on the surface with defeats in the first rounds from Queen’s and Mallorca.
In the quarter-finals we have Casper Ruud, who is the only player in the top 40 who has not played a grass court tournament this year, or the more likely Tommy Paul, champion at Queen’s last week and one of the few who can boast of having a close head-to-head with Alcaraz, whom he has beaten on two occasions.
Having lost the status of second seed, by giving up the 500 points as the winner of Queen’s, Alcaraz starts this tournament as the third favorite and that means he has to face Jannik Sinner, world number one, in a hypothetical semifinals, while avoiding Novak Djokovic until the final.
