Wimbledon 2023 men's preview: Can Carlos Alcaraz — or anyone — stop Novak Djokovic?

Wimbledon is back to normal this year. No one's being excluded on the basis of the country they represent, and ranking points are being awarded as normal.

That was not the case in 2022. The All England Club made the controversial (and mostly self-defeating) decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players following Russian president Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Banning certain players based on the country they represent did not go over well with the ATP or the WTA, who each decided that ranking points would not be awarded for Wimbledon.

The ripple effects from those decisions are still being felt today. The 2022 Wimbledon champion (Novak Djokovic) didn't have enough points to earn the No. 1 seed despite winning both the Australian Open and the French Open in 2023. Last year's runner up, Nick Kyrgios, also didn't get the Wimbledon bump. This year, he's seeded 30th and needed a wild-card to get in due to a series of injuries that have derailed his 2023.

While those issues will still continue to affect the overall rankings, this year's Wimbledon won't cause those problems. Everyone is getting the points they should get, and none of the top seeds are conspicuously missing for reasons beyond their control. That doesn't seem like too much to ask from the oldest tennis tournament in the world.

Players to watch at Wimbledon 2023

Novak Djokovic

Last year's debacle with Wimbledon rankings points has led to Djokovic, the 2022 defending champion and currently the best tennis player on the planet, being awarded the No. 2 seed at a tournament he hasn't lost since 2017. He also recently dropped to No. 2 in the ATP rankings after 20-year old phenom Carlos Alcaraz won his first grass court title at the Queen's Club Championship. But that's just a storyline. The only thing that really matters to Djokovic is winning and continuing to add to his resume as the most accomplished tennis player of all time. He may not be the top seed, but he's won the last four titles at the All England Club. The only question that matters is if anyone can stop him. And besides Andy Murray, not a one of the 127 other players in the men's singles draw has beaten Djokovic on grass. So right now, the answer to that question is no.

Carlos Alcaraz

Just one week before Wimbledon began, Alcaraz won his first grass court title at the Queen's Club Championships and reclaimed the No. 1 ranking from Djokovic, who ascended after he won the French Open earlier this month. As explained above, this is due to last year's ranking points debacle, which means the ATP rankings aren't really telling us who the best men's singles player in the world is right now (it's Djokovic), they're just telling us who has the most points (currently Alcaraz). Whatever advantage Alcaraz may gain from being the No. 1 seed at Wimbledon is nullified by the fact that if he wants to win he'll likely have to face Djokovic at some point. Their lifetime head-to-head record is now 1-1, but there's no question Djokovic has the advantage while Alcaraz has something to prove.

Daniil Medvedev

Lost in the drama of Djokovic vs. Alcaraz is Medvedev, the No. 3 seed who has never been past Round 4 at Wimbledon. He's returning to the All England Club for the first time since 2021 due to last year's ban on Russian players, but he's also coming into this year's tournament after a shocking first-round crash out of the French Open. (He lost to Thiago Seyboth Wild, a player ranked 131st in the world.) Fortunately, luck may be on Medvedev's side, at least in the early going. He's facing wild-card Arthur Fery in the first round, ranked No. 389 in the world. That feels like it could be an automatic win for Medvedev, though with him we've all learned not to count our chickens.

Frances Tiafoe

Tiafoe is headed to Wimbledon just a few weeks after achieving a career-high ranking of No. 10, and is seeded No. 10 for the first time at a Grand Slam. That's due to a full year of steady improvement across the board, which started at Wimbledon 2022. His fourth-round finish led to a huge breakout at the US Open, where he made it to his first Grand Slam semifinal. He's won two titles (Stuttgart and Houston) in 2023, bringing his career total to three. Tiafoe is starting to hit his stride at 25 years old, and we could see major improvement from him over the next two weeks.

Nick Kyrgios

Last year's surprise runner-up also didn't see the points bump he should have after an excellent Wimbledon finish. Kyrgios began to channel his outsized personality (and temper) into his incredible tennis talent and saw great results, and cemented that with a quarterfinal exit at the US Open. Unfortunately, we haven't seen much of Kyrgios since then. He missed the Australian Open and the French Open due to injuries, and questions remain about his overall fitness since he's played just one competitive match in 2023. It's disappointing that Kyrgios hasn't been able to follow up his 2022 breakout with a stellar 2023 campaign, and depending on how he looks next week, it may be time to shift our Kyrgios expectations to 2024 and chalk this year up as lost.

Americans in the men's singles draw

• No. 9 Taylor Fritz

• No. 10 Frances Tiafoe

• Marcos Giron

• Tommy Paul

• Christopher Eubanks

• Sebastian Korda

• Ben Shelton

• Maxime Cressy

• Mackenzie McDonald

• J.J. Wolf

• John Isner

• Brandon Nakashima