Returning to Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz has finished his first training session on the immaculate grass of SW19.
A year ago, Alcaraz had a spectacular summer, participating at both Wimbledon and Queen’s. At the Cinch Championships, he defeated Alex de Minaur in the championship match to win his first professional grass-court title.
A few weeks later, in the Wimbledon final, Alcaraz proved to be a stronger opponent than Novak Djokovic, the four-time defending champion.
The Spaniard kept his position as the world’s number one player, and his popularity soared along with a sharp rise in social media followers. Alcaraz lost badly to British left-hander Jack Draper in the second round of the Queen’s Open this season, and he will start the Wimbledon tournament ranked third in the world.
He now has the chance to start the Championships as the third seed if Djokovic makes it out of his knee surgery. When the ATP updates the rankings the following week, the Serbian will overtake him in the standings.
Alcaraz isn’t wasting any time before Monday, July 1st, at 1:30 p.m. local time, when his championship defense in London begins. He was seen enjoying his first hit under a gray cloud at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) grounds in photos shared by Wimbleon’s X account, which was once Twitter.
Due to a forearm injury, the 21-year-old was competing without the protective arm sleeve he had worn throughout the clay-court tour, but he was beaming and radiating positivity.
Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz’s coach, is anticipated to report back to work this week. It seemed sense that the 44-year-old would miss his countryman’s title defense at Queen’s following a demanding two weeks at the French Open, where he assisted his student in winning his third Grand Slam.
The native of Murcia has a 26-6 season record and won the Indian Wells tournament in early March in addition to the French Open. Alcaraz will play in Wimbledon before heading to the Olympics in Paris as part of his hectic European schedule.
The champion returns 🇪🇸#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/FRiwWcK9iT
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 22, 2024