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The world’s best players will compete in Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam event of the season. Jannik Sinner, the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz are among those in action.

Here's what you need to know ahead of the tournament:

When is Wimbledon?Wimbledon will be held from 1-14 July. The grass-court Grand Slam tournament, established in 1877, will take place at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in London, United Kingdom. The tournament director is Jamie Baker.

Who is playing at Wimbledon 2024?Wimbledon will feature Sinner, Alcaraz, seven-time winner Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and more. 

When is the draw for Wimbledon?The Wimbledon singles draw will be made on Friday 28 June at 10 a.m.
The Wimbledon doubles draw will be made on Friday 28 June at 12 p.m.

Jannik Sinner is quickly finding that being World No. 1 comes with its own set of challenges.

After fighting off an ultra-aggressive Tallon Griekspoor in a three-set first-round encounter, Sinner again found himself under siege from a free-swinging Fabian Marozsan Thursday before shaking off the Hungarian to win 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 and reach the quarter-finals of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle.

Understanding that playing within themselves was not going to get the job done, Sinner’s two opponents this week at the grass-court ATP 500 have red-lined their games. The Italian, so far, has met the challenge, but he has needed close to his best tennis at the start of his grass season to stay alive.

[ATP APP]

Indeed, a piece of inspired brilliance was the catalyst for Sinner’s decisive break in the second game of the third set. On the first point of the game, Sinner lunged for a diving forehand short in the court, rolling 360 degrees before jumping back to his feet to hit a winning crosscourt backhand on the dead run past a dumfounded Marozsan at net.

Sinner, who is spending his second week atop the PIF ATP Rankings, is chasing his first grass-court title this week. He improved to 35-3 on the season after winning his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Marozsan.

In 2022, ATP partnered with You Can Play, a nonprofit organisation committed to furthering LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport. This followed an ATP player survey that highlighted the need for more comprehensive education around topics such as inclusive language and social media use.

This month, we are excited to share an exclusive conversation between Brian Vahaly, the former World No. 64 in the PIF ATP Rankings, and You Can Play, ATP’s LGBTQ+ inclusion partner.

In 2017, Vahaly became the first ATP player to come out as gay. This followed a successful career on the ATP Tour in which he navigated an environment that both overtly and subtly challenged his mental strength and sense of belonging. Today, his fearless work to spearhead LGBTQ+ inclusion in the sport continues in his role as First Vice President of the USTA.

In this open conversation, Vahaly reflects on his unique journey. He advocates for authenticity, emphasises the importance of locker room language and encourages players to use their global platform to promote acceptance.

Looking back, how do you reflect on your journey and relationship with tennis?
I started playing tennis when I was two years old. I love this sport. I love the relationships I have built because of this sport. I love it because tennis challenges you mentally, spiritually, and physically. Tennis altered the course of my life, not just from playing great matches at Masters events and Grand Slams, but my experience with tennis is what ultimately shaped me into the man I’ve become today.

Grass court tennis is still very much a two-touch sport.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Carlos Alcaraz’s undefeated run at the cinch Championships last year identified the vast majority of his points played at the grass court event were a maximum of just two touches for each player - four shots total. Three out of every four points (75%) were in the 0-4 shot rally length, where he carved out his most significant point-total advantage (+27) over his five opponents.

2023 Queen's: Alcaraz Rally Length

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Alcaraz played a dominant 75 per cent (521/696) of all points in the 0-4 shot rally length to win the first grass court title of his career last year at the cinch Championships. The first four shots include: serve, return, Serve +1 (first shot after the serve), Return +1 (first shot after the return)

Only one day remains until fans can relive the final 12 days of Roger Federer’s career. On Thursday, FEDERER: Twelve Final Days will be released on Prime Video.

Academy Award-winning director Asif Kapadia and his co-director Joe Sabia provide unprecedented access into the end of Federer’s career, from insight into the former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings’ decision to retire to his final moments on court.

In anticipation of the documentary’s release, ATPTour.com looks back at Federer’s final match at the 2022 Laver Cup.

The Swiss took to the court one final time alongside great rival Rafael Nadal.

The pair met 40 times in their legendary Lexus ATP Head2Head series and three more times in tour-level doubles matches. But this was their first time sharing the same side of the court in an official match.

Andy Murray retired from his second-round match at the cinch Championships against Jordan Thompson after five games due to struggles with his back. Afterwards, the Scot revealed how concerning the injury is.

“Obviously it wasn't great. I have been struggling with my back for a while,” Murray said. “I had loss of power in my right leg. So loss of motor control, had no coordination. Yeah, couldn't move.”

Dealing with the back was not new to Murray. The 37-year-old explained it was sore in the run-up to the Queen’s Club ATP 500.

“It was pretty sore in my match yesterday. Yeah, it was sore through today. But I was able to manage it. I wasn't comfortable playing, but I was able to manage it,” Murray said. “During my pre-match warmup, I was pretty uncomfortable, and then I walked up the stairs just before going on the court, I didn't have the usual, just normal strength in my right leg. It was not a usual feeling.

“I don't know how many of you were watching, but the first two balls I hit in the warmup, my right leg, it was so uncoordinated. I had no coordination. Right leg just was not working properly.”

Chinese No. 1 Zhang Zhizhen scored his second Top 5 victory Wednesday when he upset third seed Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5) at the Terra Wortmann Open.

From 3/5 in the third-set tie-break, Zhang won four consecutive points to stun the World No. 5 and become the first Chinese player to reach the Halle quarter-finals.

“A really tough match. Last time I lost a third-set tie-break [in Stuttgart last week]. And today again, a third-set tie-break. I was thinking, ‘Okay, it’s time. The perfect moment to get revenge’,” Zhang said. “I’m super happy that today I handled it to the end.”

The 27-year-old dropped six consecutive games from 2-2 in the second set but recovered a break deficit early in the decider to pull within striking distance. Zhang, whose previous Top 5 victory came against Casper Ruud at last year's US Open, again fought off a challenge on serve at 4-5 in the third set, when Medvedev was two points away from victory.

ZZZ ON FIRE?

Zhang takes down No. 3 seed Medvedev 6-3 2-6 7-6(5)!@ATPHalle | #TERRAWORTMANN pic.twitter.com/5kdI3bKgBg

Sebastian Korda continued his impressive grass-court season on Wednesday at the cinch Championships, where he won a close second-round clash against Grigor Dimitrov.

The American, who is competing at a career-high No. 23 in the PIF ATP Rankings, battled hard to earn a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory against the 2014 Queen’s Club champion.

“It was a big struggle. We were both serving well and waiting for our chances and there weren’t many. But when they came, I tried to take them,” Korda said. “It is incredible playing at Queen’s, it is one of my favourite tournaments.”

?Korda on course?@SebiKorda takes out [3] Dimitrov to reach the quarter-finals@QueensTennis | #cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/D0Mq4aT6zX

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 19, 2024

Korda was more consistent from the baseline than Dimitrov, committing nine unforced errors compared to 17 from the Bulgarian, according to ATP Infosys Stats. With his two-hour, one-minute win, the 23-year-old earned his seventh Top 10 victory and third on grass.

Liam Broady headlined the initial wild cards for Wimbledon as announced by tournament organisers on Wednesday.

Broady, Jan Choinski, Jacob Fearnley, Arthur Fery, Billy Harris, Paul Jubb and Henry Searle have reached received a main draw wild card.

This will be Broady’s seventh appearance in the main draw of The Championships. In each of the past two editions, the lefty has advanced to the third round. Choinski, Fery and Jubb have also played in the main draw before.

Fearnley, Harris and Searle will debut in the main draw of the grass-court major. Searle won the boys’ singles event at SW19 last year.

[ATP APP]

Oliver Bonding, Charles Broom, Jay Clarke, Felix Gill, George Loffhagen and Jack Pinnington Jones received a qualifying wild card.

Neal Skupski and Michael Venus got their cinch Championships campaign underway on Wednesday in London when they defeated singles stars Ugo Humbert and Ben Shelton 6-4, 6-3.

The seventh seeds were aggressive throughout the 69-minute clash on the lawns in west London, striking deep returns and closing the net sharply to reach the second round. Skupski and Venus are teaming for the second time this season and next play Alex de Minaur and Sebastian Korda or second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

[ATP APP]

Other singles teams to fall in London included Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie and Sebastian Baez and Adrian Mannarino. Sixth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Draper and Norrie 6-4, 6-4, while fifth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic downed Baez and Mannarino 4-6, 6-3, 10-3.

Mektic and Koolhof arrive in London in good form, having advanced to the final on grass in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden also advanced to the second round, defeating Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 6-4, 6-4. Ebden and Bopanna have won tour-level titles together at the Australian Open and in Miami this season.

In the final full week of January in 2018, Jannik Sinner played qualifying for an ITF World Tennis Tour event in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Then 16, he had not yet earned a PIF ATP Rankings point.

Standing across the net in the second round was a Hungarian named Fabian Marozsan. The 18-year-old rallied for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory that day, and he has not faced the Italian since.

That will change Thursday when Marozsan plays new World No. 1 Sinner in the second round of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle.

“I remember that I was going to play against an Italian player who was very young and I just saw the last game of his match. He played very fast, he was moving into the court and putting a lot of pressure on the opponent and I said, ‘Okay, it's not going to be easy. But he's still young, and maybe I have a chance to win against him’,” Marozsan recalled from their meeting in Egypt. “That was maybe my first or second year of the ITFs. I just started the Futures tournaments and I was still still a young player, but he was much younger than me.”

[ATP APP]

Thinking back more than six years to that encounter, Marozsan believed Sinner could be a “really good player, but not the No. 1”.

There is no place like home. That showed when Jannik Sinner returned to his hometown of Sexten in the Dolomites last week to celebrate his ascent to the top of the PIF ATP Rankings.

“If you imagine coming from here, a tennis player, it’s very, very strange,” Sinner said in a special behind-the-scenes documentary of the first Italian World No. 1’s visit.

The 22-year-old provided a film crew unprecedented access throughout his trip. Sinner gave fans a look at his life growing up in the mountains. The special feature helps tell the story of how Sinner evolved from a kid in a small town known for skiing to the best tennis player in the world.

“I have my house here, and here is the other house with [my] grandma and grandpa and they always cooked for me and then after, I had to wear the ski stuff because I went to skiing immediately from two to four, and then twice a week I was playing tennis and that was it,” Sinner said. “You got it on camera!"

[ATP APP]

The Italian added: “We played football and we were all the time together with friends and nobody had a phone. We only had a watch and the parents they said, ‘Look, at five you should be at home’. And sometimes you arrived at 5:15 and then the parents, they got p****d a little bit!”

It is only fitting that Luciano Darderi’s two title runs this season, one on the ATP Tour and another on the ATP Challenger Tour, have come in Argentina and Italy, the two countries where the 22-year-old has split time throughout his life.

Born in the coastal town of Villa Gesell, Argentina, Darderi was ‘around five years old’ when he received his first tennis racquet as a gift from his grandmother. Little did he and his grandmother know that ‘Luli’ would become a Top 40 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, with his father Luciano as his coach.

“I remember when I was six or seven, I would go by bicycle with my dad and play together,” Darderi recently told ATPTour.com. “It was a court at a hotel, close to the forest and beach. After 10 or 11, I was going to Buenos Aires because they play more tennis there and I started playing more tournaments.

“It's really special for me and my dad too. We have arrived at the level, the ranking, the dream that we've had together. This fast, at 22 years old, is really special. In one year, we are doing a lot of things and I think we have a lot more things to do.”

[ATP APP]

Set to face German Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round of the Terra Wortmann Open on Wednesday, Darderi realised his potential competing at junior tournaments aged 10, when he started spending six months in Argentina and the other half of the year in Italy, where his grandfather resided. “I started to play 100 per cent and I started to think about playing professionally,” said Darderi, who moved to Italy at age 11.

Alexander Zverev navigated through a tricky opening-round test Tuesday at the Terra Wortmann Open, where the second-seeded German defeated countryman Oscar Otte 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.

Aiming to go one step further than his two finalist appearances in Halle (2016, 2017), Zverev stayed patient to outlast Otte in baseline exchanges and capitalised in pressure moments with first-strike tennis to advance.

"A week ago, I was playing on clay still basically. He made it very tough for me, no rhythm at all," Zverev said in his on-court interview. "That's how grass-court tennis is sometimes and I'm just happy with the win. He did make it extremely difficult for me, so credit to him. I'm obviously happy that I won and hopefully it's going to be a level above in the next match."

The qualifier Otte routinely presented challenges to Zverev, often serve-and-volleying and absorbing the World No. 4's firepower with off-pace slice. But the Roland Garros finalist stuck with his heavy hitting, crushing 54 winners to his 40 unforced errors, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to win in two hours, 17 minutes under the OWL Arena roof.

Zverev improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Otte, who has troubled the 22-time tour-level titlist in both of their meetings. Otte led Zverev two-sets-to-love in the first round of Roland Garros in 2021 before the two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion roared back to win and later reach the semi-finals.

Andy Murray earned victory in his 1000th tour-level match on Tuesday when he overcame Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at the cinch Championships.

The Scot is a record five-time champion at the Queen’s Club and he played with confidence against Popyrin to snap a four-match losing streak on Tour. Backed by a vocal crowd in London, Murray used his backhand slice to keep the ball low and hit through his forehand to dictate in the key moments.

"I didn't realise, but my mum told me before the match that this was my 1000th match on the Tour," Murray said in his on-court interview. "A lot of matches and a lot of wear and tear in the body and it is not easy but I managed to push through."

With his one-hour, 51-minute win, Murray set a second-round clash with Australian Jordan Thompson. The former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings has often produced his best level on grass, also winning Wimbledon twice (2013, 2016).

Murray holds a 32-9 record at the ATP 500 grass-court event, having won his first match at the tournament in 2005.

The grass-court season is rapid fire in many ways. It takes place over the course of a month and the action is fast-paced, with the stars of the ATP Tour playing aggressively and often rushing forward.

This week, new No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings Jannik Sinner and World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz are among the stars in action at the Terra Wortmann Open and the cinch Championships, respectively.

How well do you know the grass-court season and the players who have excelled on the surface? In the newest edition of ATPTour.com's new 'Tuesday Trivia' series, we test your grass-court knowledge.

 

Carlos Alcaraz made a winning return at the cinch Championships on Tuesday following his Roland Garros triumph earlier this month.

The Spaniard, who lifted his third major title on the Parisian clay, was not at his best in his first grass-court match of 2024, but he found a way to move past Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 7-5 and reach the second round at the Queen's Club.

"The first match in any tournament is never easy but even more difficult here on grass, starting the grass season," Alcaraz said. "You want to do a good result and have to deal with a lot of expectations that you put on yourself. I am really happy with the match and it was a good test, playing with Francisco. It was close in the second set. It is good to have tough situations. Having to deal with nerves."

Champion instincts ?

Back in London @carlosalcaraz saves three set points to edge Cerundolo 6-1, 7-5@QueensTennis | #cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/JBNsTRTW86

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 18, 2024

Alcaraz is the defending champion at the ATP 500 event, having dropped just one set en route to the title last season. The 21-year-old backed that up by winning Wimbledon. The top seed started quickly in his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Cerundolo, committing just one unforced error in the first set to move ahead. However, his level dropped at the start of the second set, with the Spaniard trailing 2-5.

Jannik Sinner survived a challenging debut match as World No. 1 at the Terra Wortmann Open Tuesday.

In his first grass-court match of the season, the top seed overcame an opening-round scare, rallying past Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-2. The Italian’s debut match as World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings was on upset watch, though. Sinner struggled to find his footing the first hour in Halle, failing to convert two set points in the opening-set tie-break and later facing triple break point in the second set.

"It was for sure mentally tough," Sinner said in his on-court interview. "I was 5/1 up in the tie-break in the first set. But this can happen, especially on this surface, it can go very, very fast. I think I was good mentally. I was struggling in the second set, 0/40 down on my serve. If he makes that point, it is even more difficult.

"But it's all about trying to get the confidence back, especially on this surface and I have shown that. Hopefully I can show some good tennis also in the next round."

Despite jumping to a 5/1 lead in the first-set tie-break, Sinner was unable to hold off a late charge from Griekspoor, who fearlessly took returns early to win the topsy-turvy tie-break 10/8. Griekspoor, No. 27 in the PIF ATP Rankings, was aiming to build upon his grass-court pedigree, having won last year in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where he reached the semi-finals last week.

Andrey Rublev, Holger Rune, Zhang Zhizhen and local favourite Wu Yibing will headline the first edition of the Hangzhou Open, the tournament announced Tuesday at a press conference. The Chinese ATP 250 will run from 18-24 September.

Rublev, No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings, is a 16-time tour-level champion, including title runs this year in Hong Kong and at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid.

“I’m looking forward to coming back to China and playing in the Hangzhou Open in September,” Rublev said. “I’m excited to come to the beautiful city of Hangzhou and play in the stadium, which I know hosted the Asian Games last year.”

Zhang, 27, is China's highest-ranked male player in history, currently World No. 42. One year ago he triumphed at the Asian Games, which was held at the Hangzhou Olympics Tennis Centre, the home of this event.

“It was an excellent experience to play at the Hangzhou Olympics Tennis Center in last year’s Asian Games. It has nice facilities and there is a great atmosphere there,” Zhang said. “I’m very happy and looking forward to going back and playing at the venue again this year in the ATP event in September.”