Four-time defending champion Novak Djokovic’s road to 2023 Wimbledon revealed as the Serb faces a mix of old and new foes in form of Wawrinka, Kyrgios and Alcaraz
The 36-year-old will be entering the tournament as a second seed and will be locking horns with Pedro Cachin in the first round.
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Novak Djokovic (Image via ATP)
Defending champion Novak Djokovic is all set to play in the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, which start on July 3. As expected, Djokovic will be the heavy favorite to lift the title, as he is a four-time defending champion. Winning the trophy at the All England Club will make him a 24-time Grand Slam champion and let him tie the tally with Roger Federer with eight Wimbledon titles.
Djokovic has won three titles this season, two of them at the Australian Open and the French Open. He defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the season’s first Grand Slam tournament, followed by an easy win over Casper Ruud on the clay court.
Last year at Wimbledon, he defeated the likes of Kwon Soon-woo, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Miomir Kecmanovic, and Tim van Rijthoven in the first four rounds. Then he overcame Jannik Sinner and Cameron Norrie in the quarterfinals and semis. He met Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in the final.
In the final, the Serb lost the first set 4-6, then found his rhythm to clinch the second and third sets with scores of 6-3 and 6-4, before wrapping up the final set 7-6 to lift his 21st Grand Slam title. Prior to the 2022 season, he won the elusive cup in 2021, 2019, and 2018 (in 2020, the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Before these four Wimbledon titles, he also emerged victorious in 2011, 2014, and 2015.
Novak Djokovic may face these players en route to his potential 24th Grand Slam title
The 36-year-old will be entering the tournament as a second seed and will be locking horns with Pedro Cachin in the first round. In the second round, the Serb will either face Thompson or Nakashima, followed by his match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Emil Ruusuvuori, or Stan Wawrinka.
However, more interestingly, Djokovic can face tough competition from Wawrinka despite the Serb leading their head-to-head record 20-6. Wawrinka has often restricted Djokovic’s run at Grand Slam events.
In the fourth round, the second seed will likely meet either Lorenzo Musetti or Hubert Hurkacz. And if he manages to knock out these players, in the last eight he will face one of these four players: Andrey Rublev, Felix-Auger Aliasseime, Alexander Bublic, or last year’s runner-up Nick Kyrgios.
If everything goes smoothly for the Serb, he will be facing either Ruud, Jannik Sinner, or Taylor Fritz in the semifinals. The blockbuster final may see Djokovic up against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, his 2023 Australian Open rival Stefanos Tsitsipas, or the two young sensations Holger Rune and Carlos Alcaraz.
Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon draw
- Round 1- Pedro Cachin
- Round 2- Jordan Thompson/ Brandon Nakashima
- Round 3- Tomas Etcheverry/ Emil Ruusuvuori/ Stan Wawrinka
- Round 4- Lorenzo Musetti/ Hubert Hurkacz
- Quarter-finals- Andrey Rublev/ Felix Auger-Aliasseime/ Alexander Bublik/ Nick Kyrgios
- Semi-finals- Casper Ruud/ Jannik Sinner/ Taylor Fritz
- Final- Carlos Alcaraz/Daniil Medvedev/ Stefanos Tsitsipas/ Holger Rune
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Gouri Das
(4740 Articles Published)