Wimbledon’s men’s draw has handed tennis fans a heavyweight storyline before the grass-court Grand Slam even begins: Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner are in the same half of the bracket.
The tournament runs from June 29 to July 12, and the path is already loaded. Djokovic, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, could meet Sinner, the World No. 1 and defending champion, in the semi-finals if both survive a dangerous route through SW19.
Djokovic opens against Wu Yibing. If the seventh seed wins, Stefanos Tsitsipas or Hugo Gaston could be waiting in the second round. His projected path also includes Arthur Rinderknech, Andrey Rublev or Joao Fonseca, and third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals.
Sinner starts against Miomir Kecmanovic after beating Carlos Alcaraz in last year’s final. The Italian could face Nuno Borges or Tristan Boyer next, with Daniil Medvedev seeded as his quarter-final opponent.
The other half of the draw gives Alexander Zverev a different kind of pressure. The second seed begins against 21-year-old Belgian Alexander Blockx and is seeded to face Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals.
Fritz has no soft landing. The sixth-seeded American opens against Britain’s Jack Draper in one of the standout first-round matches. Draper returned to the Tour this week in Eastbourne, adding an immediate home-crowd edge to the matchup.
Ben Shelton also lands in Zverev’s half. The fourth-seeded American begins against qualifier Otto Virtanen, with Alex de Minaur lined up as a possible quarter-final opponent.
Wimbledon has not started yet, but the pressure is now on. Djokovic and Sinner can see each other from a distance, and every round between now and a possible semi-final has suddenly become part of the story.
