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Carlos Alcaraz - Queen's 2023
ATP Tennis Players, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Tennis News, Wimbledon

Carlos Alcaraz ‘feels one of the favourites to win Wimbledon’ after returning to No.1


Carlos Alcaraz has declared that he sees himself as one of the ‘favourites’ for the Wimbledon title this year, after returning to world No.1 following winning his first grass court title.

Alcaraz beat Alex de Minaur, 6-4 6-4, to win the title at Queen’s Club and become No.1 for the fourth time in his young career.

“It felt great to lift this trophy and to win my first tournament on grass. It is an amazing run for me this week,” said Alcaraz after the final.

He continued, “I played at an amazing level at the end of the week but seeing my name on a trophy, it means a lot, so I am going to keep that memory for the rest of my life, for sure.”

While admitting that his expectations were low coming into the ATP 500 tournament, he revealed that he now sees himself as one of the favourites heading into SW19.

“No expectations. If I did not have expectations (here) and I won it. Honestly, I have a lot of confidence now coming into Wimbledon,” revealed Alcaraz. “I ended up the week playing at a high level, so right now I feel one of the favourites to win Wimbledon.”

However, the Spaniard did suggest that Novak Djokovic, who has won the last four Gentlemen’s Wimbledon singles titles, is the ‘main favourite’ once again.

“Well, I am coming now (to play) Wimbledon with a lot of confidence, that’s obvious, but I saw a statistic that Novak has won more matches at Wimbledon than any top-20 player,” explained Alcaraz.

The US Open champion added, “What can I say about that? Novak is the main favourite to win Wimbledon, that’s obvious, but I will try to play at this level to have chances to beat him or make the final at Wimbledon.”

With no-one having any points to defend from Wimbledon last year, the battle for No.1 is still on with only 80 points separating Alcaraz and Djokovic.

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic’s battle for the No.1 ranking

When Alcaraz beat Casper Ruud at the US Open last year he became the youngest No.1 in history. Since then, the Spaniard and Djokovic have had a back-and-forth at the top of the ATP rankings.

Here is the story so far:

12th September 2022 – Carlos Alcaraz wins the US Open to take the No.1 ranking from Daniil Medvedev.

30th January 2023 – Novak Djokovic lifts his 10th Australian Open crown to return to the top of the rankings.

20th March 2023 – Carlos Alcaraz wins Indian Wells to dethrone Djokovic for the first time.

3rd April 2023 – Novak Djokovic returns to No.1 after Alcaraz fails to defend his Miami Open title.

22nd May 2023 – Carlos Alcaraz becomes top dog once again after playing in Rome for the first time.

12th June 2023 – Novak Djokovic makes history with 23rd major title at Roland Garros and becomes No.1 for a ninth time.

26th June 2023 – Carlos Alcaraz becomes No.1 for a fourth time after winning his first grass court title at Queen’s.

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Matthew Johns, Tennishead Writer, is a professional tennis journalist with a specialist degree in Sports Journalism. He's a keen tennis player having represented his local club and University plus he's also a qualified tennis coach. Matthew has a deep knowledge of tennis especially the ATP Tour and thrives on breaking big tennis news stories for Tennishead.