29/06/2025

SPORTS 12 ON SUNDAY JUNE 29, 2025

Ten to watch at Wimbledon With defending champions, rising stars and seasoned contenders all converging on the All England Club, this year’s Championships promises two weeks of opportunity, pressure and the chance to carve out a place in tennis history.

CARLOS ALCARAZ Now on a career-best 18-match winning streak taking in Rome, the French Open and a second Queen’s title on Sunday, the defending champion remains the man to beat at SW19. A five-time grand slam winner at the age of just 22, Alcaraz has reached five consecutive finals and lost just one match since April. It is h ard to see anyone stopping the Spaniard over the next fortnight. JANNIK SINNER The world No. 1 from Italy has reached two finals since

preventing him from landing that record 25th grand slam title. Sinner got the better of him at Roland Garros, while Alcaraz has beaten him in the last two Wimbledon finals. Aged 38, can the last of the “big three” still standing find a way past them and land an eighth SW19 title? JACK DRAPER Britain’s great hope will go into his home slam seeded fourth after a stellar start to the season, winning a maiden Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells, reaching another final in Madrid and the semi-finals at Queen’s. Now free of the fitness issues which

BY ANDY SIMS

Raducanu is playing probably some of her best tennis since her remarkable US Open triumph in 2021 – although that bar is quite low after a turbulent few years. The 22-year-old is having to manage a back problem, but her informal coaching arrangement with Mark Petchey appears to be working. TATJANA MARIA The German mother of two came from out of nowhere to be crowned the Queen of Queen’s Club earlier this month. Maria went on an incredible run through qualifying before slicing four top-20 players into submission to become the oldest WTA 500 champion at the age of 37. Could bringing 1980s-style

WIMBLEDON begins tomorrow with Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejcikova bidding to defend the titles they won last year. Here’s 10 players to watch over the

next fortnight. COCO GAUFF

The charismatic American heads to Wimbledon as the new French Open champion, but her grass ceiling remains the fourth round. Yet if her forehand and serve hold up, Gauff has all the weapons and athleticism to master her least favourite surface. The 21-year-old will be seeded second so there should be little danger until the latter stages of the tournament. ARYNA SABALENKA

returning from a three month doping ban but is probably still having nightmares about the three championship points he held against Alcaraz at Roland Garros. An aggressive baseliner with excellent movement, Sinner will certainly be a threat but question marks remain over his stamina in five set matches. NOVAK DJOKOVIC In reaching the French Open semifinals, Djokovic proved he can still beat 98% of the field in men’s tennis. It is just the other two who are

dogged his formative years, Draper is one of the most feared players on the ATP Tour and is desperate to emulate Andy Murray and claim the Wimbledon crown. ALEXANDER BUBLIK The maverick from Kazakhstan – who prefers a getaway to Las Vegas to a training block – knocked Draper out of the French Open and accounted for Sinner on his way to the Halle title last week in a blur of pinpoint serving, thunderous winners and a drop shot which lands like a butterfly with sore feet. Temperamental, gloriously unpredictable and brilliant fun to watch. – The Independent

tennis back to Wimbledon land the ultimate prize? QINWEN ZHENG With a huge Chinese fanbase, Olympic champion Zheng probably has a claim to be the most recognisable female player worldwide. She has also built a reputation for some frowned upon antics, from flouting warm-up convention by hitting winners to changing her rackets and shoes during an opponent’s service game, most recently against Raducanu at Queen’s.

The runaway world No. 1 has yet to make a major impact at Wimbledon and had to withdraw from last year’s tournament through injury.

Sabalenka’s ragged display in the Roland Garros final was hard

to take, so the p o w e r f u l Belarusian will be determined to reassert her authority at the top of the women’s game by adding the SW19 title to her US and Australian Open crowns. E M M A RADUCANU Now back at the top of the British rankings,

Aryana Sabalenka (left) and Novak Djokovic . – REUTERSPIC

Fritz faces lucky loser, Eala makes history

Swiatek to play maiden grass-court final against Pegula

Eala survived a tense clash lasting more than two hours to make history in the Wimbledon warm-up event on the grass at Devonshire Park. In a final featuring two of the rising stars of the women’s game, the 20-year-old will face Australian teenager Maya Joint overnight. Joint, 19, ranked 51 in the world, beat Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-3. “It was a challenge for both of us, physically and mentally. She’s a really solid player, had some moments where she was really dominating,” said Eala. “The fact that I was able to stay there and wait for my opportuni ties was a big achievement for me.” – AFP

tournament history. “I think it’s a lot less pressure when you don’t expect to be in the main draw and get the oppor tunity,“ said 149th-ranked Brooksby. “You just want to make the most of it.” “It means a lot to be back on stages like this, not just skill-wise but physically,” said Brooksby, who began the year outside the top 1,000 in the world. “This is my favourite thing in the world to be back on these big stages in these big matches. I’m very happy to be playing again tomorrow.” Earlier, Alexandra Eala became the first player from the Philippines to reach a WTA Tour final after beating Varvara Gracheva 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

TOP seed Taylor Fritz is on course for a fourth Eastbourne Open title in six attempts after setting up a final against fellow American and lucky loser Jenson Brooksby yes terday. Fritz overcame a second set stumble to beat Spanish sixth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and close in on his second title of the grass court season after winning in Stuttgart earlier this month. If the world No. 5 was fully expected to reach the final, Brooksby has been on a fairytale run since losing in straight sets to Aleksandar Vukic in qualifying. The 24-year-old upset French fourth seed Ugo Humbert 6-7 (7 9), 6-4, 6-4 to become the first lucky loser to reach the final in

FIVE-TIME Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek reached her first ever grass-court final yesterday defeat ing last year’s Wimbledon runner up Jasmine Paolini in the semifinals at Bad Homburg. The former world No. 1 swept past second seed Paolini 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour to reach her first final in a year since she lifted her fourth French Open trophy at Roland Garros. Swiatek will bid for her 23rd career title overnight against US top seed Jessica Pegula, who ral lied past Czech Linda Noskova 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 6-1 in the northern sub urbs of Frankfurt. “I wasn’t expecting to win this match, so I’m happy that I just did my job,” Swiatek, 24, said.

“I knew how I wanted to play and I just went for it. I’m happy I kept the momentum going until the end of the match, Jasmine, you can’t let her get back in the game because she’s a fighter.” Pole Swiatek never before reached a final on grass, and her best result at Wimbledon is a quar terfinal finish in 2023. Pegula, 31, won her fifth semifi nal of the season out of as many contested and will attempt to lift her third trophy of the season after Austin (hard court) and Charleston (clay). A US Open finalist in 2024 and winner of eight WTA Tour tourna ments since the start of her career, Pegula has only one title on grass, last year in Berlin. – AFP