Wimbledon is underway and as the bookies pin world number one Jannik Sinner as the favourite, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will have something to say on the matter. Here’s a look ahead to the summer of tennis as more players look to make their name.
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00:00Away from the fact that it's a major on the tennis calendar for these players, it's a
00:06fantastic bit of British culture as well. How important is Wimbledon to London, to the
00:14surroundings and the city, the nation as well? It sort of gets everyone together during these
00:21summer months and it celebrates a fantastic historic occasion at one of the best locations
00:28for tennis in the world.
00:29Wimbledon is sort of the epitome of British tradition and culture, isn't it? I often think.
00:37It's just a renowned event that we all look forward to every summer. It is peak British
00:42summer. I think it's summarised by Wimbledon, to be honest. Nice refreshing juices, strawberries
00:49and cream, all that sitting on Henman Hill.
00:53And obviously going into Wimbledon, Al-Kharaz aiming to defend his title. Do you think he
00:59can go back to back on the grass courts?
01:02I think he definitely can. I mean, he did it last year and he wasn't even really known
01:06or considered to be a grass court player. He won Queens, he won Wimbledon, beating Djokovic
01:11in the final. So you have to say that he's going to be riding on that wave of confidence.
01:18So I think it's a case of who's going to stop Al-Kharaz.
01:21World number one, Yannick Sinner. I mean, obviously he's rised to world number one.
01:25It's been very interesting. So much consistency and confidence. He's sort of gone under the
01:31radar a bit. How impressed with him have you been?
01:35I mean, he's been amazing since the Davis Cup in November last year, beating Djokovic
01:42after Djokovic had match points. I think that's really given him confidence. These guys have
01:46to play as individuals. And I think having that team around you has kind of boosted Sinner
01:51in a different kind of way. He was always the slow and steady one anyway. He was improving
01:56bit by bit by bit. So he doesn't have those wild swings of bad form. He always plays really,
02:03really well.
02:04And of course, Novak Djokovic making an appearance after much thought, you know, recovering from
02:10his knee surgery. He's, you know, spoken and said he absolutely loves Wimbledon and that's
02:15why he's rushed back. Is it possible that he bounces back and wins it for an eighth
02:21time?
02:22We've seen sort of dips in motivation from Novak. It's not easy to maintain that top,
02:27top level for so many years. And I do feel that whenever Rafa Nadal is no longer sort
02:33of in the picture, I don't, not intentionally, but I think for sometimes I think Novak needs
02:39that competition with his great rivals and that's always spurred him on. So when he was,
02:44you know, beating them quite easily, he also had a dip then as well. He still wants to
02:49challenge for the slams and the big titles, but you can't count him out. So I think it's
02:54really interesting to see, you know, how he comes back and then competes against them,
02:58Sinner and Alkaraz.