Wimbledon Draw: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal On Course To Meet In Championship Match
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.
“He's been trying to get it back,” ESPN analyst John McEnroe said of Djokovic on a conference call. “So, it's sort of set up at least for him now to hopefully get his act back together. I'm not 100% sure. 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
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball and Tennis insider who contributes to The New York Times, NJ Advance Media and newspapers nationwide.He is the author of two books and an
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