Wimbledon news: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and the top men’s singles contenders at SW19
It is that time of year again, when a corner of South West London transforms into the centre of the sporting world and the BBC News at Six becomes the BBC News at whatever time the tennis finishes.
The Championships at Wimbledon is for many tennis fans the highlight of the summer – and for good reason – with this year’s edition starting on 30 June and running until 13 July.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Charlie Williams takes a look at the top five contenders to lift the Challenge Cup in the Gentlemen’s Singles.
Carlos Alcaraz
Fresh from his win on the red clay of Roland Garros, Alcaraz will be hoping that the green grass of Wimbledon is equally as fruitful.
The 22-year-old Spaniard and world No.2 will be bidding for his third singles title in a row at SW19.
In both of his previous triumphs, Alcaraz won the Championships by defeating 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic.
The 2023 final was a five-set epic lasting four hours and 42 minutes, while last year’s showpiece was a slightly more straightforward affair, with Alcaraz beating the legendary Serb in straight sets.
Alcaraz’s season so far
To date, Alcaraz has won four tournaments this season – Rotterdam (hard), Monte Carlo (clay), Rome (clay), and Roland Garros (clay) – for a win-loss record of 37-5.
He has earned $6,877,646 in prize money this season alone, adding to a career prize purse of nearly $45 million.
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Jannik Sinner
Sinner is one of the favourites for the title this year and rightly so – he is the world No.1 and therefore the man to beat.
The 23-year-old Italian will be hoping to build on his success at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year and grab a first Wimbledon title.
At the very least, he is likely keen to improve his record at the All England Club, where his best result was reaching the semi-finals way back in 2022.
Sinner’s season so far
After a winning start to the 2025 campaign saw him pick up the ‘Ozzy Open’ crown in Melbourne, Sinner’s season took a controversial turn.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WDA) found the world No.1 guilty of accidently taking a prohibited substance in March 2024.
A period of legal back-and-forth followed before Sinner and his team agreed to a three-month ban from playing on tour.
That suspension explains his middling 18-2 record so far this year.
Sinner, it must be said, didn’t relax during his forced time off, as evidenced by his recent run to the final at Roland Garros, where he faced off with Alcaraz in a five-set, five-and-a-half hour nailbiter on the red Parisian clay.
In the end, despite Sinner having three championship points in the fourth set, Alcaraz took home the title after a fifth-set tiebreak decided an all-time classic.
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Jack Draper
As far as the home crowd is concerned, Draper will be one of the favourites to win the title as the world No.6 and British No.1 seeks to continue a successful season at SW19.
Draper has been playing tennis since the age of three, which is no surprise given that both his parents were very involved in the sport, and he is now good friends with childhood idol Andy Murray, so he won’t lack either motivation or inspiration.
Draper’s season so far
The 2025 season is proving one to remember for Draper, with the London native recently reaching a career-high world ranking of 4th.
In March, he won the Indian Wells tournament in California – his second tournament win at the Masters 1000 level.
Ultimately, Draper may very well be the best hope that Britain has of winning the Wimbledon title since Murray.
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Novak Djokovic
Despite the next generation biting at his heels these days, Novak Djokovic cannot be ruled out when it comes to the men’s singles at Wimbledon this year.
If Djokovic does manage to take the crown, he will equal Roger Federer’s incredible record of eight Wimbledon singles titles.
Interestingly, the 38-year-old Serb is also finally hinting that his professional tennis career might be drawing to a close.
In the post-match press conference after his loss to top-seed Sinner in the semi-finals at Roland Garros, he stated that the match “could have been the last match I ever played here”.
Djokovic’s season so far
By Djokovic’s normally dizzying standards, this season has not met expectations so far.
Indeed, he has only won one tournament all year – a Roland Garros warm-up tournament in Geneva.
However, Djokovic has reached a final at the Masters 1000 level in Miami and moreover reached the semi-finals in Melbourne and Paris.
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Taylor Fritz
The final contender to win this year’s Wimbledon Championships is Taylor Fritz.
The 27-year-old American is bidding to win his first Grand Slam after winning three grass-court titles at Eastbourne and one at the Stuttgart Open.
Like many players on the circuit, Fritz’s parents are very involved in tennis – his father, Guy Fritz, is a coach and his mother, Kathy May, is a former top 10 WTA player.
Fritz’s season so far
Despite Fritz being world No.4, he only has one tournament win to his name this season in Stuttgart.
At the Australian Open, Fritz lost in the third round to Frenchman Gael Monfils, while he lost in the first round at Roland Garros after a poor performance against Daniel Altmaier of Germany.
In March, he reached the fourth round at Indian Wells and followed that up with a semi-final appearance at the Miami Open.
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