Only four games left! What matches are separating Djokovic from another Wimbledon triumph?

Novak Djokovic is the best candidate to win the Wimbledon title. It’s hard to find anyone among tennis fans and pundits who would favour any other player. What opponents is the Serbian tennis player likely to face? Who will try to end his incredible Wimbledon streak?

Novak Djokovic has a relatively open path to the calendar grand slam this year. Winning all four majors came soon after the start of the open era for Rod Laver in 1969. After that, no one. Djokovic is now halfway there.

In light of the Serbian tennis player’s performance at Wimbledon, the first of the two remaining steps to this historic feat seems almost a formality. Djokovic has now won 31 matches in a row at the All England Club. With whom could he play the remaining four he is short of an eighth Wimbledon title?

Eight finals

The opponent for Djokovic at this stage is already certain. The Serbian tennis player will play Hubert Hurkacz. The native of Wroclaw made the semi-finals here two years ago. He also beat Roger Federer then. However, against Djokovic, the Pole has lost all five matches they have played so far.

It cannot be assumed that Hurkacz will succeed against the tennis legend at Wimbledon. Djokovic’s match against Hurkacz is scheduled for Sunday evening.

Quarterfinals

At this point, Russia’s Rublyov and Kazakhstan’s Bublik come into consideration. Given their current form and their recent match against each other, we’ll take Bublik to advance at this point.

Djokovic has only played the Kazakh once and recorded a win. While Bublik’s streak of eight straight match wins is awe-inspiring, losing to him should not be an option for Djokovic with his current form and motivation.

Semifinals

In the last-four stage, we predict Jannik Sinner as Djokovic’s opponent. The Italian played a great match against Djokovic at last year’s Wimbledon. Djokovic even lost 0:2 on sets. But he still won in the end.

The native of Belgrade likes to play under pressure, when he has to turn around an unfavourable match and in the aforementioned match he did just that. By the way, there are more successful reversals in his account.

In the quarterfinals of this year’s French Open, he lost the first set against Khachanov, who was playing a great match at the time. The second set went to a tiebreak and it was only then that Djoker broke things open and dominated the rest of the match with ease.

The earlier clash between the Serb and the Italian also went in favour of the more experienced tennis player. Moreover, Sinner hasn’t played a dazzling tournament this year since he retired from hard court tennis. Even the Italian is not strong enough to threaten Djokovic.

Finals

This is the match most fans are looking forward to. Djokovic-Alcaraz. Of course, Alcaraz is going to have to overcome a lot of tough obstacles to make it to the final. Starting with the great Italian Berretti and ending with the tournament’s number five, Tsitsipas.

None of these duels will probably bear comparison with the eventual final against Djokovic. Alcaraz has adapted quickly to grass. He’s taken some flak from Mats Wilander, but he’s winning. At this point, he has eight grass wins in a row.

But he’s never known what it’s like to play against Djokovic on grass. Plus, in the Wimbledon final. Let’s face it, this theoretical final line-up has a bit more gloss than others. Djokovic would probably be facing the toughest match in this scenario with his great run through the All England Club this year. Still, Alcaraz shouldn’t win more than two sets in it.

Every playing day we will be closer to knowing whether Wimbledon 2023 is heading in that direction.

Sources