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Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova will defend their respective titles at Wimbledon, which begins on Monday (July 1). Jannik Sinner will look to challenge Alcaraz for the title, while world number one Iga Swiatek will hope to finally make her mark on grass.

Before the grass court Major and third Grand Slam of the year starts, we take a look at the topics of conversation.

Will Djokovic end his title drought?

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

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 famous “Big Four”.

The 37-year-old Djokovic lost a thrilling five-set final to Alcaraz last year and ended the year with the US Open and ATP Finals titles. This year, however, he did not reach the final, let alone win a trophy.

At the Australian Open, he lost to Sinner and saw the Italian triumph. At Roland Garros, he stuttered before retiring before his quarter-final due to a knee injury.

Djokovic’s movements were not entirely smooth in the 6-3, 6-4 victory at London’s Hurlingham Club, as his right knee was bandaged, but he struck the ball crisply and served well.

“I can tell you that I really enjoyed it today,” Djokovic said afterwards. “I can tell you that pain-free tennis is the best tennis. I had no pain and I’m really happy about that. It was obviously a great test against one of the best players in the world.”

“I played a few practice sets, but I really wanted to test myself. The test was very successful, so of course I’m very happy. It was an intense three weeks after the operation, during which I spent many hours on rehab.”

Djokovic, who has won the most Grand Slam singles titles in men’s tennis history with 24, added: “I always wanted to give myself the chance to be in London. I think my surgeon is here. He’s definitely the MVP (most valuable player) over the last three weeks.”

“I try to take it day by day and see how far I get.”

Question marks over Andy Murray’s fitness

And that brings us to Andy Murray. Unlike Djokovic, the Brit has not been playing on the practice courts as often and has been putting everything off until his scheduled appearance (on Tuesday).

Murray, 37, defeated Djokovic in the 2013 final, ending a 77-year wait for Britain’s first Wimbledon champion.

Murray, now ranked 115th, underwent surgery to remove a cyst on his back.

“Maybe my ego is getting in the way, but I feel like I deserve the opportunity to take my time until the very last moment to make this decision,” said Murray, 37, who plans to retire in the coming months. “It’s complicated, and it’s going to be even more complicated because I want to play Wimbledon again… so I’m going to wait as long as I can to see how well I recover.”

The All England Club announced that Murray and his older brother Jamie had received a wildcard for the men’s doubles instead of the singles.

“I was asked, ‘Are you going to withdraw before the draw on Friday at 10am?’ And I said, ‘No, I’m not. I’m going to wait until the last minute,'” Murray said. “It’s not so clear that I’m either 100% ready to play or that there’s a 0% chance that I can play. That’s the situation. I’d say it’s more likely that I can’t play singles at the moment.”

And so it is. Andy Murray has been drawn to face Czech Tomas Machac. What is clear, however, is that the Scot has no plans to compete in the US Open, as the Olympic Games will probably be his swan song.

Is change finally happening?

It has been said so many times, but never has it felt so convincing: the youth movement is here.

In the men’s category, it has been 21 years since at least one of the first two Grand Slam titles of the year was not won by Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.

At the 2003 Australian Open and Roland Garros it was Andre Agassi and Juan Carlos Ferrero. Now it was Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

Alcaraz is the defending champion at Wimbledon and has won three Grand Slam titles since his triumph at Roland Garros at the age of 21. Sinner, 22, is the world No. 1 and seeded No. 1 at Wimbledon.

Sinner became the first Italian to join the top players’ rankings and showed no signs of being burdened by his high status when he won his first grass title in Halle last weekend.

“I’m looking forward to Wimbledon,” said Sinner, who reached the semifinals in 2023 and lost to Djokovic in straight sets.

“I played good tennis last year. I’m definitely more confident.”

Alexander Zverev, no longer the youngest at 27, stressed that this year’s showpiece was “the most open of the last 20 years”.

“I think this is the most open Wimbledon tournament we’ve had in terms of favorites and potential winners perhaps in 20 years,” Zverev said.

“I think there are several guys who have a very good chance to go far and win the tournament.

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

For the women, it will be the first Wimbledon since 1996 – 28 years ago – without the two Williams sisters. Their well-known names have been replaced by Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.

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

The 20-year-old Gauff is currently ranked number 2 in the world, her best result ever. She has reached at least the semifinals in the last three Grand Slam tournaments and won her first trophy of this kind at the US Open last year.

Sinner vs. Alcaraz again? Yes, please

Sinner and Alcaraz are not only the ones who stand out from the rest, but have also developed a budding rivalry. “These two guys are going to win many, many Grand Slams. How many? That is the question. Of course, for 10 years, I think, they’ll be the best – Alcaraz and Sinner. I have no doubt about that,” said Richard Gasquet, a three-time semifinalist at major tournaments, including twice at Wimbledon. “They’re going to be the future of the game. … The new generation is coming.”

Both Alcaraz and Sinner excel at covering the court and are hard hitting, and both create excitement with their creative shots whenever they step on the court, or Sinner with his uncompromising jumps en route to his first grass title in Halle, a rare case of a man winning his first tournament after debuting as No. 1.

“Nobody has ever played like Alcaraz. No chance. And Sinner? The same,” said Mats Wilander, seven-time Grand Slam champion in the 1980s. “They say: ‘Whoa! What and where do they come from?'”

They are placed in the same half of the draw and can meet in the semi-finals if both make it to the end.

Will Swiatek find his feet on the pitch?

Swiatek will be keen to transfer her dominance in women’s tennis from clay to grass at Wimbledon. After another outstanding clay court season, she would like to impress on her weakest surface.

But the Polish world number one faces a tough challenge on the grass of the All England Club from a strong line-up, including Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the draw didn’t help either. Swiatek, who had never reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, was given a path that could be filled with former Grand Slam winners.

Her first opponent will be 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who Gauff eliminated in the first round at Wimbledon last year. Then there is a chance she will face 2018 Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber in the third round, 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round and defending Wimbledon champion Vondrousova in the quarterfinals.

Women’s title contenders

Aryna Sabalenka was second behind Swiatek in the finals of the Madrid Open and the clay court tournament in Rome, but she thinks she has a good chance on the faster courts at Wimbledon.

The world number 3, who missed Wimbledon 2022 due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes in connection with the Ukraine war, reached the semifinals in 2021 and the same stage last year.

Her chances look slim this time around after admitting she is not fully fit. She said she is “not 100% fit” and said she has a “rare” injury and there is a “chance” she could be out.

Other favorites for the Wimbledon title include 2022 winner Elena Rybakina and last year’s US Open champion Gauff, who never made it past the fourth round.

Outside of the WTA’s so-called “Big Four”, two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur, ranked tenth in the world, is hoping to make it three times after reaching the final in the past two years.

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

Wildcard threats

Four Grand Slam winners – three of them mothers – received wildcards at Wimbledon: Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Emma Raducanu and Caroline Wozniacki.

Four-time Major winner Osaka and three-time Grand Slam winner Kerber returned from maternity break at the start of the season.

Osaka, appearing at the All England Club for the first time since 2019, reached her first grass-court quarterfinal since 2018 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch this month and was the only player to take a set from Iga Swiatek at the French Open.

The Japanese player has struggled to make a name for herself since returning to tennis following the birth of her daughter last year and is ranked a modest 111th in the world.

The 36-year-old Kerber has a certain tradition at Wimbledon: she finished second in 2016 and won the title two years later. However, the German is currently ranked 221st in the world.

Britain’s Raducanu made a brilliant showing in her first Wimbledon appearance of 2021, reaching the fourth round as a qualifier weeks before winning the US Open. However, she was eliminated in the second round the following year and missed last year’s tournament after undergoing surgery.

She comes into Eastbourne with the added confidence of claiming her first top-10 win over Jessica Pegula, but was eliminated in the next round.

Former world number one Wozniacki, who has two children, never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon.

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