As is tradition, Centre Court will see the champions open on Day 1 and Day 2 of the tournament. First up is Carlos Alcaraz, who plays Mark Lajal in the first match of his title defence. His victory last year was a major surprise as he finally ended the winning streak of Novak Djokovic, who won four straight Wimbledon titles before last year.
Lajal managed to finally qualify for a slam at the fourth time of asking, having failed at each of the other three slams over the past 12 months. His final qualifying round win over James Duckworth came as a fairly big surprise, given the Australian has spent a fair amount of time in the Top 100. He hit 15 aces in the 6-4 6-4 6-4 win, helping him to limit his opponent to just one unconverted break point.
Alcaraz will be looking to make it two straight slams here, having won the French Open earlier this month. A loss to Jack Draper at Queens is not ideal but unlikely to dent the Spaniard’s confidence too much coming into the tournament. “I’m feeling great. Honestly, after Queen’s, I had a lot of days to adapt my game, to practise, to get better,” he said. “I remember after losing in Queen’s, the next day I started practising my movement, my shots, just to be more comfortable moving on grass, playing on grass this year.
This will be the biggest stage that Lajal has played on, something that can bring the best out of players. The Estonian will need to serve lights out if he is to keep this one even close but it’s likely the gulf in class will show fairly quickly.
Prediction – Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets
