Novak is the main favourite to win Wimbledon, says Carlos Alcaraz

LONDON: Carlos Alcaraz believes that he has a strong chance of success at Wimbledon after winning the Queen’s Championships, but also admitted that Novak Djokovic remains the favourite to win the grass-court major.

Alcaraz put in a dominant display to beat world No.18 Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 to clinch his first title on grass. The win marks the Spaniard’s fifth title of the season so far  adding to his trophies in Indian Wells, Madrid, Barcelona and Buenos Aires.

With this trophy comes even bigger achievements for the 20-year-old, as he regained his position at the top of the world rankings to enter the upcoming Wimbledon Championships as the first seed.

“It felt great to lift this trophy and to win my first tournament on grass. It is an amazing run for me this week. I played at an amazing level at the end of the week but seeing my name on a trophy, it means a lot, so I am going to keep that memory for the rest of my life, for sure,” Alcaraz was quoted by Eurosport.

“No expectations. If I did not have expectations (here) and I won it. Honestly, I have a lot of confidence now coming into Wimbledon. I ended up the week playing at a high level, so right now I feel one of the favourites to win Wimbledon,” he added.

Alcaraz’s previous experiences on the grass major include reaching the last 16 and the second round at Wimbledon in the past two years, but this time the US Open champion is confident of going beyond the fourth round for the first time.

“Well, I am coming now (to play) Wimbledon with a lot of confidence, that’s obvious, but I saw a statistic that Novak has won more matches at Wimbledon than any top-20 player.

“What can I say about that? Novak is the main favourite to win Wimbledon, that’s obvious, but I will try to play at this level to have chances to beat him or make the final at Wimbledon,” he said.

Djokovic has been the undisputed ruler of SW19 since 2018, maintaining an undefeated streak on Centre Court for the past 10 years. He has not lost on Centre Court in 10 years since losing to Andy Murray in the final.

Since then, the Serbian has lifted the trophy on six occasions and has only suffered two defeats, both on Court 1 of the tournament.