Tennis News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Novak Djokovic Picks Favorite to Win Wimbledon Between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz After Exit

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Gouri Das | Last updated Jul 12, 2025 10:13 AM ET

Even Novak Djokovic is expecting a nail-biting Wimbledon final contest between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. The Serb, who was chasing his eighth Wimbledon title, crashed out of the tournament after a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 defeat to the Italian ace in the semifinals, held on Friday (July 11).

It was Djokovic’s second defeat to Sinner this year; he has now lost to the three-time Grand Slam champion for the fifth consecutive time. Prior to Wimbledon, the veteran and the youngster met in the last four of the Roland Garros where Sinner did not secure the straight-set win without toiling for hours.

But at Wimbledon, Sinner broke no sweat in clinching the win and the match did not last for more than one hour and 55 minutes. With this win, the 23-year-old has now improved his head-to-head record over the 24-time Grand Slam champion to 6-4.

Djokovic, for the first time since 2018, has failed to secure a berth in the Wimbledon final. Alcaraz, on the other hand, is into his third consecutive final at SW19, and he will meet Sinner for the third time this season.

In their previous clashes this year, Alcaraz secured an easy win in the Italian Open final but at the French Open, he came from two sets down as well as saved three match points in the fourth set to defend his title. Djokovic, when asked at the press conference about his pick between the two young rivals, chose the two-time Wimbledon champion as the favorite to win.

I think I will give a slight edge to Carlos as a favorite because of the two titles he’s won here and the way he’s playing and the confidence he has right now. But it’s just a slight advantage. Because Jannik is hitting the ball extremely well. I think it’s going to be again a very close matchup like we had in Paris.

Alcaraz secured his fifth consecutive win against the World No.1 when he defended his French Open title. The two young Grand Slam winners will be facing each other for the second time in a Major event.

Jannik Sinner is not worried about his elbow injury

Jannik Sinner slipped in the first set during his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov, injuring his elbow. He struggled during that match as he dropped the first two sets.

Then in the third set, Dimitrov damaged his right pectoral muscle while hitting an ace, and eventually handed a walkover to Sinner. The South Tyrol native had an MRI on his elbow and was expected to struggle during his quarterfinal clash with 10th seed Ben Shelton.

But Sinner ended up beating the American ace in straight sets. Following his semifinal win, Sinner, at the press conference said he is not concerned about his injury.

No issue for Sunday. As I mentioned after Ben, there are no excuses. I believe we are managing this minor problem quite well for now. I was more concerned about the Ben match in the quarters. Today, I felt quite good already. The warm-up this morning went well, so I’m not worried.

While Sinner has progressed to his first Wimbledon final, Carlos Alcaraz will be playing his third consecutive final here in his bid to become the fifth man in the Open Era to win three grass-court Majors on the trot after Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz will also become the second man in the Open Era after Borg to complete the Channel Slam for consecutive seasons.

He is chasing his sixth title of the season, after his wins in Rotterdam, Monte Carlo, Rome, Paris, and at the Queen’s. Sinner is chasing his second following his Australian Open.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: