LONDON: The prestigious Wimbledon Championships will be starting from Monday, with Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic having his eyes on multiple records.
The third grand slam event of the year will be held at the prestigious All England Club in London, UK, as per Olympics.com. It is only played on grass courts.
If Djokovic wins the title, he will equal Swiss legend Roger Federer’s record of eight singles titles in London. He is currently tied with American great Pete Sampras as second-most successful men’s singles player in London during the Open era.
The Serbian would be aiming for his fifth successive men’s singles Wimbledon title win, something that has only been done by Federer and Sweden’s Bjorn Borg.
Djokovic will be eyeing his third grand slam title of 2023, after winning Australian Open and French Open titles to overtake men’s record of 22 major titles held by Rafael Nadal from Spain. The Serbian currently has 23 major titles.
With Nadal not playing due to injury, the world number one and top seed Carlos Alcaraz from Spain is an obstacle that Djokovic will have to overcome. The duo met earlier this year at the semifinals of the French Open and Djokovic won the match. Before that, youngster Alcaraz had beat Djokovic at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid semi-final in Spain last year.
Djokovic is second seed and will be playing world number 67 Pedro Cachin from Argentina in round one. Former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev is seeded third.
An exciting matchup in the tournament will see 2023 Australian Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, the fifth seed take on 2020 US Open Champion Dominic Thiem of Austria. The winner could lock horns against two-time Wimbledon champion and an unseeded Andy Murray.
The current ATP and WTA rankings of men’s and women’s singles players determined the seedings.
Coming to women’s singles competition, the defending champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan is the third seed and Poland’s Iga Swiatek, who is also the world number one player, is the top seed, with Aryna Sabalenka seeded second. The previous edition’s finalist Ons Jabeur from Tunisia is sixth-seed.
Five-time Wimbledon singles champion Venus Williams will also be playing in the tournament. The 43-year-old veteran will lock horns with Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Elina Svitolina in the opening round. They both are wild card entries in the tournament.
The only tennis player from India to compete in the Wimbledon 2023 singles tournament was Ankita Raina. However, world No. 197 Ankita Raina fell to world No. 167 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain in the first round of the qualifications with scores of 3-6, 6(5)-7(7), and 1-6.
In the men’s doubles competition, Rohan Bopanna will pair up with his Australian partner Matthew Ebden. The Australian-Indian team has been in excellent form this year; they won the Qatar Open and the Indian Wells ATP Masters 1000 championships. In the opening round of the men’s doubles competition, they will take against the sixth-seeded Argentine team of Guillermo Duran and Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Sania Mirza, a tennis prodigy from India who announced her retirement from competitive play earlier this year, is anticipated to compete in the Ladies Legends Invitation Doubles match at Wimbledon in 2023. For the invitational event for retired athletes, she will compete alongside Johanna Konta of Great Britain.
Sania’s former doubles partner, Swiss star Martina Hingis, will compete in the Legends Invitation Doubles competition as well.
Wimbledon 2023 tennis schedule
-July 3, Monday
First round – men’s and women’s singles
-July 4, Tuesday
First round – men’s and women’s singles
-July 5, Wednesday
Second round – men’s and women’s singles
First round – men’s and women’s doubles
-July 6, Thursday
Second round – men’s and women’s singles
First round – men’s and women’s doubles
-July 7, Friday
Third round – men’s and women’s singles
Second round – men’s and women’s doubles
First round – mixed doubles
-July 8, Saturday
Third round – men’s and women’s singles
Second round – men’s and women’s doubles
First round – mixed doubles
-July 9, Sunday
Fourth round – men’s and women’s singles
Third round – men’s and women’s doubles
Second round – mixed doubles
-July 10, Monday
Fourth round – men’s and women’s singles
Third round – men’s and women’s doubles
Quarter-finals – mixed doubles
-July 11, Tuesday
Quarter-finals – men’s and women’s singles
Quarter-finals – men’s and women’s doubles
Semi-finals – Mixed doubles
-July 12, Wednesday
Quarter-finals – men’s and women’s singles
Quarter-finals – men’s and women’s doubles
-July 13, Thursday
Semi-finals – women’s singles
Semi-finals – men’s doubles
Final – Mixed doubles
-July 14, Friday
Semi-finals – men’s singles
Semi-finals – women’s doubles
-July 15, Saturday
Final – women’s singles
Final – men’s doubles
-July 16, Sunday
Final – men’s singles
Final – women’s doubles. (ANI)