The 2022 edition of Wimbledon is just around the corner and three of the names with weight of the circuit ATP They have their respective roadmaps ready until the London Grand Slam. Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz y Novak Djokovic they have chosen the Hurlingham exhibition tournament over any of the official tournaments to get ready. The same path to the British ‘great’, but preceded by a somewhat uneven 2022 for them.
Wimbledon will start on June 27. and the three tennis players of the moment have decided to speed up their preparation in London itself, in the aforementioned exhibition tournament, to be perfectly acclimatized to what they are going to find in the third Grand Slam of the season, whose facilities they have already used to train .
In one way or another, the expectation for the participation of these three stars in Wimbledon is absolute, to the point that the training of Nadal and Djokovic in the facilities at All England Tennis Club They have been a sporting and social event in which madness has been unleashed to see two of the members of the Big Three practice.
The Wimbledon picture has been capricious and for a duel between Nadal and Djokovic to take place, we would have to wait until the final of the Grand Slam. Rafa has been designated as the number 2 seed, marching on the opposite side of the draw from Novak, the first seed.
Nadal against everyone and against his happy injury
Rafa Nadal arrived in the English capital this week and has trained Monday and Tuesday on the Wimbledon courts, before making his debut in Hurlingham on Wednesday. It will be the first time that the Spaniard has played this championship since 2019, a year in which the strategy did not go wrong at all, since he later reached the semifinals of the ‘big’ grass.
After Rafa himself assured his participation in Wimbledon, the only unknown is his state of health. His chronic left foot injury is possibly his biggest rival game after game. “I am a player who lives with constant injury. It is my day to day. It’s hard, really… and of course sometimes it’s hard for me to accept it“, explained the Balearic tennis player himself to clarify his situation to the media and fans.
Despite everything, Nadal has found the formula to sign a brilliant 2022, well above expectations, as he himself recognized, taking into account that in 2021 he was seriously contemplating withdrawal. He started the year surprising locals and strangers by winning the Open the Australia and then he won his 14th Roland Garros. In other words, Rafa has won the two Grand Slams so far this season and has distanced himself from Djokovic and Federer as the player with the most ‘greats’ with 22 titles for 20 of them two. In addition, the Balearic added two more ATP tournaments to his record, winning acapulco (ATP 500) y en Melbourne (ATP 250).
Alcaraz, to continue writing his story
The explosion of Carlos Alcaraz in 2022 is being one of the stories of the season in world tennis. the murcian has climbed to number 7 in the ATP ranking and has become one of the sensations of the circuit, sports and media.
Despite his stumble in the Roland Garros quarterfinals and remaining in the Round of 32 at the Australian Open, Alcaraz can boast of having sat on the throne of renowned tournaments in 2022. The 19-year-old prevailed in the Mutua Madrid Open and did the same in Count of Godó. He was also crowned in the Masters 1,000 of Miami and in the ATP 500 of Río. He will now make his Wimbledon grass debut having adapted to the surface after making his debut at Hurlingham on Thursday and playing another match on Saturday.
Djokovic playing for his honor
Djokovic’s case is the most complex of all. The Serbian will play two games in Hurlingham and has already been seen at the facilities of the All England Tennis Club. He arrives at Wimbledon as defending champion, but also without having played any match since losing to Nadal in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. However, the veto of Russian tennis players means that the London Grand Slam does not distribute points in this edition and therefore ‘Nole’ will inevitably fall in the ATP ranking.
And it is that 2022 is not exactly the year of Novak Djokovic. His refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19 left him out of the Australian Open and it also meant a media stir that has not favored him excessively. The title of him in the Rome Masters 1,000 It was the only joy that he has had so far in a season in which Nadal spoiled the party in Paris and in which he now does not know if he will be able to play the US Open due to the health restrictions in the United States and the fact that he will not be able to enter the country unless they have the complete schedule of the vaccine, something that does not happen today.
