Wimbledon
When the Wimbledon men’s singles draw was made, all eyes moved to one half of the draw.
That was the top half, in which Jannik Sinner, the top seed, and Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning SW19 champion, appeared headed for a probable semifinal match, a la Roland Garros.
Both players have crucial matches that they could lose in the near future, despite having split the first two majors of 2024 and being one match away from another Grand Slam confrontation.
In a rematch of the Australian Open final, Sinner will take on fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, while Alcaraz will play 12th seed Tommy Paul in a matchup of the last two Queen’s Club Championships.
Ahead of Tuesday, we make our quarter-final predictions.
(1) Jannik Sinner vs (5) Daniil Medvedev
At the young age of 22, Sinner has advanced to his third consecutive Wimbledon quarterfinal and has basically answered those who had anticipated him to win the trophy over past two weeks.
After stuttering in the first two sets against Yannick Hanfmann and Matteo Berrettini, the Italian cruised through matches against Miomir Kecmanovic and Ben Shelton.
While Grigor Dimitrov’s early retirement in the fourth round was a small stroke of luck for Medvedev, the man who had previously shown little interest in grass has once again advanced far in the SW19 tournament.
The fact that Sinner and Medvedev, who were eliminated from the tournament a year ago, are back in the final eight, speaks everything about their respective gains.
The world No. 1 has a game that should flourish on the surface with a penetrating serve and flat hitting, and he has won most of his recent matches against the Russian.
Medvedev leads the head-to-head match 6-5, but Sinner trailed 6-0 in that battle. Since then, Medvedev has won five of their meetings, including the Australian Open, where he overcame a two-set deficit.
After strong showings in rounds three and four, he has the upper hand in this battle and is nearly hard to choose against.
Prediction: Jannik Sinner in straight sets
(3) Carlos Alcaraz vs (12) Tommy Paul
Alcaraz is frequently the overwhelming favourite in his matches, but not in this one.
Paul is one of the few players that the Spaniard has not consistently outperformed, and the American is competitive in their head-to-head matchup, splitting the four meetings with two victories apiece.
And this summer, on the grass, the 12th seed has found his best form of his life.
The 27-year-old enters this match riding a nine-match winning streak. He advanced to just his second Grand Slam quarterfinal after capturing the biggest title of his career at Queen’s.
Alcaraz has had to fight his way through his past two matches against Frances Tiafoe, the 29th seed, and Ugo Humbert, the 16th seed.
Paul’s all-court consistency has obviously been a problem as well, and the Spaniard is a touch up and down, so he won’t be having an easy time in this matchup.
However, the three-time Slam champion has the highest peak of the two by a wide margin, and he ought to prevail if he can keep it up long enough.
