ATP Wimbledon DDS: Djokovic and Alcaraz Remain The Class of the Field At Wimbledon

Can Anybody Rise Up to Prevent a Much-Anticipated Djokovic-Alcaraz Wimbledon Final?

When the tournament began, a championship showdown between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz was the projected outcome when looking at the ATP Wimbledon odds. Nothing has happened so far to change that outlook.

There were just two seeded players who failed to get out of the first round in the top half of the Wimbledon draw with American Sebastian Korda falling to Jiri Vesely in four sets and Tallon Griekspoor losing in straight sets to Marton Fucsovics.

It was a much different story in the bottom half with 11th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, No. 13 Borna Coric, No. 20 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 24 Yoshihito Nishioka and No. 27 Daniel Evans all falling in their opening matches.

Djokovic, who can tie Roger Federer’s men’s singles record of eight Wimbledon titles, is priced at -190 to win another title at Wimbledon. Alcaraz, the top seed, comes in at +225. Djokovic and Andy Murray are the only former Wimbledon champions in the men’s draw.

A Ruud Awakening

It might be hard to find a better environment for a first-week match at the All-England Tennis Club than what transpired in the second round with Great Britain’s Liam Broady taking out three-time Grand Slam singles finalist Casper Ruud in five sets.

Ruud, the No. 4 seed, went down quietly as Broady won the final two sets 6-3, 6-0 to reach the third round.

Ruud played in Wimbledon for the fifth time and has yet to get past the second round in singles. Coming off a run to the French Open finals, that leaves a big name out of the Wimbledon field.

Ruud wasn’t among the favorites in the field despite his high seeding as he was priced at +8000 in the ATP Wimbledon odds heading into the match. He has no answers for Broady who obviously had the home crowd in his corner.

“It’s a pretty terrifying, exhilarating experience coming out on Centre Court at Wimbledon,” Broady said in the on-court interview following the match. “It’s been my dream since I was five years old.

As recently as April, Broady was relegated to playing in the qualifying draw at the ATP 250 Banja Luka event.

Broady ranked No. 142, is in the third round at Wimbledon for the second year in a row. Next up is a matchup with No. 26 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada.

Broady was one of four players representing Great Britain to get out of the first round joining No. 12 seed Cameron Norrie, Jan Choinski, and the legendary Andy Murray. Choinski lost in straight sets to 17th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz in the second round.

Sinner’s Path is Wide Open

There were some concerns about Jannik Sinner‘s Wimbledon hopes after he pulled out of his last match before the start of the Grand Slam event.

Sinner hasn’t dropped a set while eliminating Juan Manuel Cerundolo and Diego Schwartzman. Now he is the No. 3 choice at +1200 to win the tournament, according to the ATP Wimbledon odds.

Meanwhile, four seeded players failed to reach the second round. Great Britain’s hearts were breaking when Daniel Evans fell to Quentin Halys of France in four sets. Halys followed that up with a routine win against Aleksandar Vukic to set up a Round of 32 showdown with Sinner.

The departures of Coric, Evans, and Nishioka leave just three seeded players left in this part of the bracket.

Favorites Roll On

Any thought that Jeremy Chardy, who was making his 14th appearance at Wimbledon, might throw a scare into top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz in the first round quickly disappeared.

Alcaraz lost just two games in the first two sets and advanced with few problems.

On the other end of the draw, four-time defending champion Novak Djokovic did have tiebreakers in each of his first two matches.

Djokovic still won in straight sets against Pedro Cachin and Jordan Thompson. That sets up the 27th career clash between Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka.

They have split their eight Grand Slam matchups with Wawrinka taking the last two. None were bigger than the 2016 US Open championship match won by Wawrinka 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.

“I think it’s great to play him at least one time here on the grass,” Wawrinka told the media after eliminating No. 29 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round. “It’s going to be the first time [facing Djokovic at] Wimbledon.

“Of course, I’m excited, and I’m happy to have the chance to play against him after we played in every other Grand Slam, a lot of other tournaments. So it’s going to be the first time on grass, and it’s great.”

The last time they met, Djokovic won 6-2, 6-2 in the 2022 Italian Open.

The tournament lost 2022 finalist Nick Kyrgios before the tournament started as a knee injury kept him from playing. Now, 2016 finalist Milos Raonic of Canada was eliminated by American Tommy Paul, the No. 16 seed. Paul is well back at +15000 in the odds to win the Wimbledon title.

For tennis betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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