Carlos Alcaraz changed Novak Djokovic at No. 1 within the ATP rankings on Monday, that means the 20-year-old Spaniard is predicted to have the highest seeding at Wimbledon.
Alcaraz, the reigning U.S. Open champion, is coming off the primary grass-court title of his profession, which he gained Sunday by beating Alex De Minaur within the last at Queen’s Club in London, and that helped him rise one spot from No. 2.
Djokovic, who picked up his males’s-record twenty third Grand Slam title on the French Open this month, selected to not play any tuneup tournaments on grass forward of Wimbledon and slid down one place.
It is the sixth time the No. 1 rating has switched in 2023, essentially the most because it occurred seven instances in 2018.
Play begins at Wimbledon on July 3.
The All England Club will announce the boys’s and girls’s seeds Wednesday and is predicted to easily observe the ATP and WTA rankings for these 32 berths in every 128-player singles draw. That would put Alcaraz and the main lady, Iga Swiatek, within the prime line of every bracket.
Swiatek remained at No. 1 — as she has for each week since first climbing to that place in April 2022 — on Monday, somewhat greater than two weeks after she gained the French Open for the third time. Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka stored her maintain on No. 2, and defending Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina is at No. 3. Jessica Pegula moved as much as No. 4, switching with No. 5 Caroline Garcia.
Wimbledon’s seedings was based mostly on a method that took into consideration gamers’ current success there and at different occasions contested on grass courts. But with solely the rankings mattering now, there’s the bizarre scenario of even final 12 months’s outcomes on the All England Club not mattering — as a result of the ATP and WTA selected to withhold all rankings factors that will have been earned at Wimbledon in 2022 to protest the membership’s resolution to ban gamers from Russia and Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine.
That struggle continues, however the membership is permitting Russians and Belarusians to compete this time.
Djokovic has gained Wimbledon every of the previous 4 instances it was held — in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022; the event was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic — and 7 instances in all.
“I mean, Novak is the main favorite to win Wimbledon. That’s obvious,” Alcaraz said. “But I will try to play at this level, to have chances to beat him or make the final at Wimbledon.”
If they’re certainly seeded Nos. 1 and a couple of, Alcaraz and Djokovic might meet solely within the championship match on July 16. At Roland Garros, Alcaraz was the No. 1 seed for the primary time at a Grand Slam event, whereas Djokovic was No. 3, they usually have been drawn to satisfy within the semifinals. The first two units have been terrific, however then Alcaraz pale due to full-body cramps he attributed, no less than partly, to rigidity, and Djokovic took the final two units 6-1, 6-1 on the best way to the trophy.
There was no different main change within the males’s rankings Monday, with Daniil Medvedev nonetheless at No. 3, adopted by Casper Ruud at No. 4 and Stefanos Tsitsipas at No. 5. Taylor Fritz, who’s from California, and Frances Tiafoe, who’s from Maryland, have been at Nos. 9-10, remaining the primary pair of American males within the prime 10 in additional than a decade.