Kings out of the game: Sinner and Alcaraz cleared the way for Medvedev

The current grass court season is taking place in men's tennis in an atmosphere of anarchy. Its culmination should be the Wimbledon tournament, which will be held in the suburbs of London from June 29 to July 12. But it is almost impossible to name the favorites of the British major. Both leaders of the tour in recent years — Italian Yannick Sinner and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz — have serious health problems. And the third racket of the world, Alexander Zverev from Germany, is basically not strong at performing on lawns. This gives a rare chance to other tennis players from the top 10 - especially Russian Daniil Medvedev and Serbian veteran Novak Djokovic. The latter will finally try to realize his dream by winning a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title at the age of 39.

The problems of favorites

Alcaraz and Sinner had three out of four Grand Slam finals against each other last season. But now the situation has changed. Carlos, who was the world ranking leader at the beginning of the year and won the Australian Open, has not been competing since April due to a wrist injury. Due to the injury, the Spaniard missed the Masters series tournaments in Madrid and Rome, and then Roland Garros. The timing of his return to the tour is still unknown. Alcaraz is due to undergo another medical examination this week, but the upcoming Wimbledon is likely to take place without the Spanish star.

Carlos is worried about inflammation in his left arm. More specifically, the problem lies in her pronator muscles, which are responsible for rotating the hand. It is necessary to approach treatment in such situations carefully, because if you trigger an injury or force a return, the risk of damage becoming chronic increases. And this is a direct path to early retirement. It was only in recent years that Dominic Thiem and Juan Martin del Potro finished tennis early due to such injuries.

Last spring, Sinner collected clay titles, but on the courts of Roland Garros, Yannick became ill in a match with Juan Manuel Serundolo. At first, most fans blamed it all on the heat in Paris (more than 30 degrees in the shade) and heat stroke, but Sinner himself said at a press conference that the problem was not the weather: "I suffered, I felt dizzy. I tried to pitch for the match, but there was no energy. The whole body was lifeless. I can't remember the last time I felt so weak."

The Italian also noted that he performed a lot in front of Roland Garros, and on the night before the fatal second round match he did not sleep well. After the fiasco in Paris, Yannick decided not to show up for tournaments on grass, except for Wimbledon, in order to properly recover physically and mentally. In early June, it became known that Sinner had been examined at a Milan clinic. The test results have not become public, so we can only guess what exactly happened to him and how he feels now.

New World Order: Andreeva aims for the top 3 of the world ranking

After Roland Garros, the Russian woman topped the WTA championship race, and Medvedev retains chances to return to the top five of the ATP.

The trump cards of Medvedev and Djokovic

It is unlikely that the reigning Wimbledon champion will refuse to play in London, but his form is worrying. Even if Yannick is physically fine, more than a month without tournament practice and without a game rhythm is a big problem. If the Italian is poorly prepared and does not reach the decisive stages, this will give the rest of the top players a chance. We can't expect Zverev to succeed — Alexander has never gone beyond the 1/8 finals in London, and grass is his least successful field. But there are much more reasons to believe in the success of Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic.

Last year, the Russian, of course, failed Wimbledon, losing in the first round, but then he generally won only one match at four Slams. But in 2024 and 2023, Medvedev reached the semifinals in London, and two years ago he knocked out Sinner in the quarterfinals, and then took the first set from Alcaraz. The Russian is currently ninth in the live ranking, but given Alcaraz's absence from Wimbledon, that's enough for the top eight to be seeded. It guarantees that there will be no meetings with other top-8 players until the quarterfinal stage — that is, a relatively light tournament grid.

And Wimbledon 2026 may also be Novak Djokovic's last chance at a 25th Slam. Carlos is not there, Yannick's form is questionable, half of the other top and talented youth play on grass much worse than on hard court or on clay. The legendary tennis player himself has long mastered all the secrets of playing on the lawn, having won Wimbledon seven times since 2011! If the Serbian wins another title here, he will equal Roger Federer, who currently holds the record in men's tennis with eight wins at Wimbledon in singles.