The prestigious second week of Wimbledon has arrived, as Sunday marks the beginning of fourth-round action. It begins with both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in action, along with Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu on the women’s side. It’s a huge middle Sunday at the All-England Club, where this day used to be all quiet.
Here are my previews and picks for two of the best matchups on the order of play.
(3) Carlos Alcaraz vs. (16) Ugo Humbert
Alcaraz went up against Frances Tiafoe on Friday and got a serious scare. Tiafoe went up two sets two one and twice held 0-30 opportunities to seize a break lead in the fourth, but Alcaraz came back to prevail 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2. It was much different story in the 21-year-old Spaniard’s first two matches; he took six consecutive sets against Mark Lajal and Aleksandar Vukic. Alcaraz is now 11-1 in his last 12 matches overall and 10-0 in his last 10 at Wimbledon dating back to last summer.
Next up the reigning French Open champion is Humbert, whom he has never faced. The Frenchman’s third-rounder against Brandon Nakashima was delayed by rain at the start of the fourth-set ‘breaker, but he returned on Saturday and and got the job done 8-6. Humbert has already played a lot of tennis during this event and now awaits what is sure to be a difficult physical test against Alcaraz.
Pick: Alcaraz in 3
(1) Jannik Sinner vs. (14) Ben Shelton
Sinner and Shelton will be meeting for the fourth time. The Italian leads the head-to-head series 2-1 after most recently prevailing 7-6(4), 6-1 in Indian Wells a few months ago. They split a pair of 2023 showdowns; Shelton scored a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) victory in Shanghai before Sinner won 7-6(2), 7-5 in Vienna.
A dominant 41-3 match record this has carried Sinner atop the rankings and he continues to play every bit like the best player on tour. The 22-year-old has bounced back from a French Open SF loss to Alcaraz by compiling an 8-0 record on grass so far this summer. That includes the Halle tile and a four-set defeat of Matteo Berretti in the Wimbledon second round. That probably has to be considered the highest-quality match of the Championships up to this point. Sinner otherwise coasted through Week 1 and now faces an opponent who has played 15 sets through three rounds.
Pick: Sinner in 3
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.