Former British number one player Laura Robson believes there will be new champions at this year's Wimbledon Championships in the men's and women's singles tournaments.
The third Grand Slam of the season is just around the corner. The main draw is scheduled to begin on July 1st. Last year, Carlos Alcaraz won a maiden title at SW19, ending Novak Djokovic's reign as four-time defending champion in five pulsating sets.
The women's tournament had an even bigger surprise in store. Czech lefty Marketa Vondrousova became the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon. She downed Tunisia's Ons Jabeur in straight sets.
Alcaraz is the oddsmaker's outright favorite to defend his crown, although he is likely to be the number three seed following his early exit at this year's Cinch Championships at Queen's. Djokovic, who overtakes him in the rankings as World No. 2 on Monday, will be the No. 2 seed if he plays.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Robson opined that the Spaniard's path would be "harder" this year and picked World No. 1 Jannik Sinner to reign supreme at the end of the fortnight in London. At the same time, she is not convinced by Djokovic's form this season, even if the Serbian recovers from a knee injury to play.
"I’m going with Jannik Sinner. He made the semis last year, is now the world No 1 and I feel like Carlos Alcaraz doing it back-to-back will be even harder. We don’t know if Novak Djokovic is going to feel healthy by that point – he’s a bit of an unknown this year, which is unusual. So I’m leaning towards Sinner."
Vondrousova has her own fitness struggles to worry about ahead of her title defense. The 24-year-old was forced to retire from her second-round match in the WTA 500 event in Berlin after slipping on the court.
Therefore, Robson also picked a new champion in the women's tournament but is undecided between two-time finalist Jabeur and World No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka.
The 30-year-old, who currently works as a tennis pundit, suggested World No. 1 and reigning Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek will fall short in her quest to win the Venus Rosewater Dish.
"Ons Jabeur. Well, my heart says Ons, but my head says Aryna Sabalenka. I don’t think Iga Swiatek is quite ready to do it. Though I love the fact she flew to Liverpool to watch Taylor Swift and cried when she got a note from Taylor."