Wimbledon Draw: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal On Course To Meet In Championship Match

SportsMoney Wimbledon Draw: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal On Course To Meet In Championship Match Adam Zagoria Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I’m a basketball and tennis insider New! Follow this author to improve your content experience. Got it! Jun 24, 2022, 08:19am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 14: Novak Djokovic of Serbia shakes hands with Rafael Nadal of Spain after .

. . [+] beating him in the gentlemen’s singles semi final at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 14, 2018 in London, England.

(Photo by TPN/Getty Images) Getty Images Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are the top two seeds at Wimbledon and could meet in what would be another historic Grand Slam final on July 10 at the All-England Club. But there is a long way to go for both men before that. Djokovic, 35, is the defending champion, No.

1 seed and the favorite. The 20-time major champion is seeking his first major title since capturing Wimbledon last year. He came up one match short of winning the calendar Grand Slam in the U.

S. Open final against Daniil Medvedev . The Russian is now ranked N.

1 in the world but is unable to compete at Wimbledon because the tournament banned Russian and Belarusian players in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Djokovic was then unable to compete at the Australian Open after being deported ahead of the tournament because he was unvaccinated against Covid-19 and then, after also being unable to play at Indian Wells and Miami for the same reasons, he lost to Nadal in four sets in the French Open quarterfinals. Djokovic opens against No.

75 Soonwoo Kwon and could face big-serving American Reilly Opelka in the fourth round. Djokovic’s draw looks pretty good but things could get interesting with a potential quarterfinal matchup with rising Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz. The Serb could then face French Open runner-up Casper Ruud in the semifinals before taking on Nadal or Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.

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I think he’s the heavy favorite, but I think there’s opportunities for players that you probably wouldn’t have thought could win it, and also a couple people that could win it. ” He added: “Novak hopefully will play his best because it would be a shame that this continuation of what this debacle in Australia would continue to affect him. It’s also tough after the year he had to back that up.

Let’s face it, it’s pretty hard to do what he did last year, come up that one match, not be somewhat deflated or make it more difficult to accomplish those type of feats again. ” Nadal, 36, has never before won the Australian Open and the French Open to start a season, and is now in position to win the first calendar Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969 after Djokovic came up one match short a year ago. He is the all-time men’s leader with 22 Grand Slam singles titles, two more than Djokovic and Roger Federer.

The Spaniard opens against No. 42 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina and then could face American Sam Querrey in the second round, Italian No. 27 Lorengo Sonego in the third and former Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic in the fourth.

No. 6 Felix-Auger Aliassime looms in the quarters, with Tsitsipas or last year’s runner-up Matteo Berrettini in the semis and Djokovic in the final. Berrettini is in form after winning Queen’s Club.

After winning his 14th French Open and 22nd Grand Slam title June 5, Nadal said he planned to have radiofrequency ablation – which uses heat on the nerve to quell long-term pain – but would have to consider surgery if that treatment did not work. The tennis legend suffers from Mueller-Weiss syndrome – a rare degenerative condition that affects bones in the feet. He said he played through the French Open because he received multiple anaesthetic injections during the tournament.

“Rafa’s toughest one [for the Grand Slam] is going to be this one to me because if you go by what he said at the French, he was injecting himself in his foot during some if not all of his matches,” McEnroe said. “I can’t believe you decide not to do that. I’m not sure how he did it in the first place, and he’s still able to win seven matches and look incredible, right? The guy looked amazing.

“If I’m 36, I don’t know how much longer I’m going to play, going for the Slam, I’d start shooting that foot up again and get through Wimbledon and the Open. That would be me. “He may be able to play a few more years.

He also talked about wanting to be able to walk when he had kids. That’s a risk that no athletes want to take. ” Here are some key first-round matchups to watch for: Novak Djokovic vs Soonwoo Kwon Jannik Sinner vs Stan Wawrinka Andy Murray vs James Duckworth Carlos Alcaraz vs Jan-Lennard Struff Cameron Norrie vs Pablo Andujar Paul Jubb vs Nick Kyrgios Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Alexander Ritschard Dan Evans vs Jason Kubler Rafael Nadal vs Francisco Cerundolo Follow me on Twitter .

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