Alcaraz & Sabalenka among Wimbledon title hopefuls

BBC News

6 hours ago

Wimbledon 2025Dates: 30 June-13 July Venue: All England ClubCoverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app.
Qualifying is complete. The pristine grass courts lie in wait. The strawberries have been picked. The queue is growing.The wait is over - Wimbledon returns on Monday.The world's best tennis players have descended on SW19 for the 2025 Championships, ready to battle for one of the sport's biggest prizes.Here's what to look out for.
Alcaraz chases three-in-a-row feat
Carlos Alcaraz will bid for a third consecutive Wimbledon title after beating Novak Djokovic in the past two finals on Centre Court.Spaniard Alcaraz, who overturned a two-set deficit to beat world number one Jannik Sinner in one of the all-time great French Open finals in June, is only 22 years old but already has five slams.Djokovic, meanwhile, continues to pursue an outright-record 25th major singles title, having tied Margaret Court with his 2023 US Open triumph.The 38-year-old Serb has been thwarted recently by the new stars of the men's game, with Alcaraz and Sinner sharing the past six majors between them.
Italy's Sinner will hope to bounce back from his Paris heartbreak, with Wimbledon the only Grand Slam where he has yet to contest the final.A semi-final loss to Djokovic in 2023 represents his best SW19 run after his quarter-final exit last year.His preparations this time were cut short by a second-round Halle Open loss to the in-form Alexander Bublik, who could be a threat after his title triumph there.World number four Jack Draper leads Britain's hopes in the men's draw, with Jacob Fearnley and Cameron Norrie also aiming for deep runs on home soil.
Another wide-open women's draw?
Not since 2016, when Serena Williams was champion for the seventh time and second year running, has a player managed to win back-to-back women's singles titles at Wimbledon.Last year, Barbora Krejcikova triumphed to follow in the footsteps of Czech compatriot Marketa Vondrousova, who 12 months earlier became the first unseeded player to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish.World number one Aryna Sabalenka, who has reached the final in five of the past six slams she has contested, has yet to reach the Wimbledon showpiece match.The Belarusian, 27, is a three-time Grand Slam singles champion but has been runner-up in the past two major finals, at the Australian Open and French Open.
Roland Garros champion Coco Gauff arrives as one of the main contenders, but she has never progressed beyond the fourth round in London.Last year's runner-up Jasmine Paolini, the Italian world number four, will look to go one step better this year.Meanwhile, former world number one Iga Swiatek - who beat Paolini handily in Bad Homburg on Friday - and 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina will also hope to challenge.British number one Emma Raducanu leads home hopes in the women's draw, where she is joined by Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal, who have both spent time in the world's top 50 of late.However, Raducanu has been handed a difficult draw. Former champion Marketa Vondrousova is a possible second-round opponent, while Sabalenka is likely to be waiting should she reach round three.
Who else is aiming for Wimbledon glory?
Britain's Henry Patten will attempt to retain the Wimbledon men's doubles title he won with Finland's Harri Heliovaara last year.They enter as the second-ranked pairing in the world, behind only El Salvador's Marcelo Arevalo and Croatia's Mate Pavic.The defending champions in the women's doubles are Czech Katerina Siniakova and American Taylor Townsend, the top-ranked pair in the world.Britain will have high hopes of success in the men's wheelchair competitions.
Alfie Hewett won the men's singles at his home slam for the first time last year to complete a career Grand Slam - and then retained the doubles title alongside compatriot Gordon Reid.Last year's runner-up Martin de la Puente and Japan's world number one Tokito Oda are Hewett's main rivals as he attempts to defend the singles.In the wheelchair women's singles, Dutch marvel Diede de Groot will look to add to her record 23 singles titles as she pursues a seventh Wimbledon title - and a fifth in a row.De Groot, whose Wimbledon win last year gave her a 15th successive singles major, subsequently spent eight months out after undergoing hip surgery following her Paralympic silver medal. Japan's Yui Kamiji has won the past two Grand Slams, with De Groot in the early stages of her return to competition.