Wimbledon will crown new champions in both the men’s and women’s tournaments this year if former British No 1 Laura Robson’s predictions hold true.
Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova are the defending champions at the All England Club, but Robson doesn’t think either of them will lift the trophy come the end of the 2024 edition.
Last year Alcaraz defeated seven-time Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic in an epic five-setter to win his maiden title at SW19 while Vondrousova became a first-time Grand Slam winner when she beat Ons Jabeur in two sets.
Alcaraz won the French Open earlier in June, but he will head into the grass-court major on the back foot after he was stunned in the second round at Queen’s Club by Jack Draper.
The loss will also result in a drop to No 3 in the ATP Rankings for the Spaniard as he was the defending champion at the ATP 500 event, putting him behind Jannik Sinner and Djokovic in the Wimbledon seedings.
And Sinner is the one that Robson thinks will be the last man standing on Centre Court as she feels Djokovic will be a bit of an “unknown” quantity this year due to the injury clouds hanging over him.
“I’m going with Jannik Sinner. He made the semis last year, is now the world No 1 and I feel like Carlos Alcaraz doing it back-to-back will be even harder,” she told The Telegraph.
“We don’t know if Novak Djokovic is going to feel healthy by that point – he’s a bit of an unknown this year, which is unusual. So I’m leaning towards Sinner.”
Vondrousova, meanwhile, also has injury concerns after she slipped and fell during a match at the Berlin Open on Thursday, forcing her to retire from the match.
But Robson doesn’t think the Czech will be in the picture when it comes to lifting the trophy as she is torn between two-time runner-up Jabeur and two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka.
World No 1 Swiatek – fresh from winning her fifth Grand Slam with a two-set win over Jasmine Paolini in the French Open final – doesn’t crack the nod either.
“Ons Jabeur. Well, my heart says Ons, but my head says Aryna Sabalenka,” she said. “I don’t think Iga Swiatek is quite ready to do it. Though I love the fact she flew to Liverpool to watch Taylor Swift and cried when she got a note from Taylor.”