Fearless Carlos Alcaraz Has Third Wimbledon Title In His Sights
Carlos Alcaraz believes conquering his fear factor has given him the confidence to chase a landmark third successive Wimbledon title. Alcaraz will start his Wimbledon defence against Fabio Fognini on Centre Court on Monday. The 22-year-old Spaniard is aiming to become just the fifth man to win at least three consecutive Wimbledon titles in the Open Era after Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz, who has beaten Djokovic in the past two finals at the All England Club, returns to Wimbledon on a career-best 18-match winning streak.
The world number two knows the historic connotations of his title bid over the next fortnight, but he doesn't want to be distracted by talk of Wimbledon immortality.
"I'm coming here thinking that I really want to win the title. I really want to lift the trophy, not thinking about how many players have won three Wimbledons in a row," Alcaraz told reporters at the All England Club on Saturday.
"I'm just thinking about, 'Okay, I just want to be ready and just want to prepare myself in the best way possible'.
"Obviously I feel a lot of confidence right now. But I'm just thinking about going forward and starting the tournament.
"Two weeks can be really long in a Grand Slam. I'm not thinking about who I could join if I win three Wimbledons in a row."
Alcaraz warmed up for Wimbledon by winning the grass-court event at Queen's Club for the second time.
That victory proved the five-time Grand Slam champion was up to speed on grass after his sensational run in the clay-court campaign.
- 'My best level' -
Alcaraz stormed back from two sets down and saved three match-points to beat world number one Jannik Sinner in an epic French Open final in June, securing a fifth successive victory against his Italian rival.
He had already won titles on clay in Rome and Monte Carlo prior to his Roland Garros triumph.
Alcaraz's last defeat came against Holger Rune in the Barcelona final in April and he believes the secret of his blistering run is playing without fear.
"Probably, yeah. When I'm playing without thinking about anything else, just playing or just thinking about the enjoyment. I've got that freedom to play whatever I like," he said.
"When that happens, I always show my best tennis, my best level. So probably so far I'm feeling the most, let's say, freedom that I've played so far."
Alcaraz is at his best when he is relaxed mentally and he warmed up for Wimbledon by spending this week playing golf with former champion Andy Murray and dining in central London.
"For me it's as much important feeling great off the court as on the court. If I'm feeling bad or I'm feeling bored or feeling like I don't want to be in that place off the court, I'm not going to play good," he said.
"It feels great to be back here in Wimbledon as the defending champion. It is really beautiful thinking about what happened last year.
"Just really excited about to start the tournament. Let's see how I go."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
From Bublik to Medvedev: 5 men who can spring a surprise in Wimbledon 2025
2025 has been the year for the bottlers. From RCB winning the IPL to Tottenham winning the Europa League and PSG winning their first Champions League title and more, many first-timers got their hands on a major title, and the upcoming edition of Wimbledon could see an unexpected individual laying their hands on the prestigious men's singles competition is very likely going to produce some iconic battles, play out storylines that could be remembered for ages and so forth. As always, the spotlight will always be on the top draws like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who are at present the best players in the world, alongside an ageing Novak Djokovic, who is eyeing that record-levelling eighth the question remains if one of these stars can break the deadlock and beat the top stars to be crowned champions in one of tennis's iconic tournaments. Let us look at the top five contenders that could spring a surprise in the men's singles competition:JACK DRAPER The fourth-seed and British talent seems to be finding his best form in recent times. He made it to the semi-finals of the recently concluded Queen's Club tournament in London, showing that he can be a nuisance to play against on Read: Wimbledon 2025 Preview: Can Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff finally conquer the grass?Despite being the fourth seed, it would be very interesting to see if the British number one can go far in the tournament. If he can make it to the knockout stages, he is surely going to fancy his chances of putting up a good fight and hopefully see himself draw has been fairly kind to start things off, but he could be up against Alexander Bublik in the third round, which could be his first big test before the round of 16 LEHECKAThe 23-year-old from the Czech Republic had a very positive showing at the Queen's Club, where he took down some fairly big names like Jack Draper, Alex de Minaur and Gabriel Diallo. While he may have fallen short in the final, he did give a good fight to Carlos Alcaraz. He won five games in the first set and took the game to the third by winning the second set as well. Considering his recent form, it would come as no surprise if he can put up a strong showing at luck of the draw on his side, it would be expected that he makes the to the fourth round at the very least. The rest that comes up will certainly be on if he can turn MEDVEDEVWhen it comes to people who fumble on the big stage, Medvedev is certainly up there in that category, and this time it could just be written in the stars for the Russian. Since June 2025, he had not played on grass since his semi-final loss to Alcaraz at had a rough start to his time in grass in 2025. Reilly Opelka managed to get the better of him, resulting in a quarterfinal exit. But he seems to have picked up the pace in the Halle Open, where he went all the way to the final to once again choke under pressure and be beaten by the final man in this list, the ultimate wildcard, Alexander draw has been fairly kind to him as well, with the biggest named threat coming in the fourth round, assuming Taylor Fritz can make it till that stage. Nonetheless, he has shown in the tournament's previous edition that he can go deep and 2025 could give him just the bit of luck he needed to go all the BUBLIKAs previously mentioned, the ultimate wildcard and the Russian-born Kazakh pro has been hitting the right form ahead of the tournament. His performance in the Halle Open is one to note. Especially since he took down a tournament favourite, Jannik Sinner, in the Round of also took things further by annihilating Medvedev in the final, which took a straight-set win to give him a lot of momentum coming in. With all the confidence, he decided to withdraw from the Eastbourne Open to give himself enough rest to come into Wimbledon as fresh as he can draw has not been as kind as people may think. Considering the worst-case scenario, he would have to take down the likes of Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Jack Draper if they perform as expected and make their way has clearly shown the ability to compete with the best, but at times, he can be his own worst enemy. For the time being, he will hope that his instincts guide him right to hopefully go all the way.- Ends
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Wimbledon, On This Day: Shvedova makes history with first golden set in a Tennis Grand Slam
On June 30, 2012 — 13 years ago — Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan etched her name into the Grand Slam record books by becoming the first player to complete a 'Golden Set'. Unseeded at the time, Shvedova won 24 consecutive points in the first set — including 14 winners — to storm to a 6-0 lead in her third-round Wimbledon 2012 clash against Italy's Sara Errani. She went on to win the match 6-0, 6-4 against the 10th-seeded Errani, who had finished runner-up at the French Open just weeks earlier. Shvedova's run ended in the next round, where she lost to Serena Williams of the United States. Interestingly, Shvedova had once come within a point of achieving a golden set before — double-faulting at 5-0, 40-0 against Amy Frazier at the 2006 Cellular South Cup in Memphis. Her Wimbledon feat remains the only instance of a golden set recorded in a Grand Slam match. The first-ever golden set in a top-level professional tennis event was achieved by the USA's Bill Scanlon, who accomplished the feat against Brazil's Marcos Hocevar at the 1983 WCT Gold Cup in Delray Beach.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
The spectacular ‘new two' era in tennis has arrived
The constant reminders of how much tennis has shifted are now coming from inside Novak Djokovic's house. Earlier this month, the 24-time major champion was in his native Serbia while two men more than a decade his junior were duking it in Paris in one of the greatest Grand Slam finals tennis had ever seen. Djokovic, who had been out to lunch with his family, didn't feel like watching. 'I got enough of tennis," he told them. His son and wife dragged him to a TV anyway. And for the rest of the afternoon, he found himself glued to a 5.5-hour fight for the ages between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner for the French Open title. Even Djokovic had to accept that the rivals who had so recently been the sport's future were now clearly its present. Three weeks on from that long afternoon, Wimbledon is shaping up much the same way. As the tournament begins on Monday, Sinner and Alcaraz are heavy favorites to continue a streak of dominance that has now lasted for more than a year. Together, the world's No. 1 and No. 2-ranked players have swept the past six major titles and generally seemed in a class of their own. Those types of runs aren't exactly a rarity, but they do signal the transition between eras. The previous six Grand Slams had been swept by Djokovic and Alcaraz, while six of the seven before those went to Djokovic or Rafa Nadal. This is how the tectonic plates move in modern men's tennis. They gradually redefine the geography of the game until the landscape looks immovable again. The real question is how the dynamic evolves between the pair of champions dubbed the New Two. Sinner came out on top in their one and only clash at Wimbledon, back in 2022. Burt Alcaraz currently leads the head-to-head against Sinner by eight victories to four and has won their past five meetings, including this year's French Open final. 'For me, the final in Roland Garros was an amazing achievement," said Sinner, who had led by two sets in that match before losing in five. 'That's it. Look, in this sport things can happen." Perhaps the most surprising part about the pair's status as heavy favorites heading to London is that neither one grew up on grass at all. Sinner, the 23-year-old Italian, feels most at home on hardcourts, the surface on which he has won all three of his Grand Slam titles. (His best result at Wimbledon remains a semifinal in 2023.) And Alcaraz, still only 22, was raised on clay in Spain, yet somehow developed an affinity for grass as a teenager. His first taste of it came when he played the junior tournament at Roehampton in England in 2019. What he found was a surface that meshed perfectly with his game, full of deft slices and drop shots. Moving around the slippery grass couldn't be more different from the sliding he knew on clay or the pounding physicality of hard courts, but Alcaraz took to it quickly. There was no better proof than winning Wimbledon twice in his first four trips to the All England Club. Alcaraz is now bidding to join Bjorn Borg and Boris Becker as the only men to win the title there three times before the age of 23. 'I think the most beautiful tennis that we can watch is on grass," he said. 'The style that the people bring to the court when they play on grass, I think is so beautiful. The sound of the ball. The movement is really tough, but when you get it, it's kind of like you're flying." That's what Djokovic is up against. Though he hasn't won a major since the 2023 U.S. Open, marking his longest dry spell in seven years, he still believes that Wimbledon represents his best shot at elusive title No. 25. Novak Djokovic, during a practice session at Wimbledon, where he has played in each of the past six finals. Even past his prime, the 38-year-old Djokovic has played in each of the past six finals at the Championships, winning four in a row before losing the past two to Alcaraz. And while his form is clearly one notch below the New Two this season, he has managed to keep himself close enough to the peak at major tournaments that things could conceivably break his way. In both Melbourne and Paris this season, Djokovic reached the semifinals. In London, where he is the sixth seed, his road to the final would potentially include world No. 4 Jack Draper, of Britain, in the quarters and Sinner in the following round. 'Even though my level of tennis has been going quite up and down and fluctuating much more than for most of my career…Grand Slams stay quite consistent," he said. 'These tournaments give me the biggest drive still." Write to Joshua Robinson at
