With less than a week to go before the doors of Wimbledon open for the world- on 27th June, it’s time to assess the top contenders for the men’s singles crown this year. 

The men’s tournament is going to be devoid of potentially some of its top seeds like World No. 2 Alexander Zverev and eight-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer due to injuries (knee ligament and knee surgery respectively), while World No. 1 Daniel Medvedev will pay the price for being born a Russian, with the all-English club having placed a controversial and much criticised blanket ban on all Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s tournament. 

Also read: US Open allows Russian, Belarusian tennis players after Wimbledon ban

However, there nevertheless promises to be plenty of star attraction at this year’s event, as two of the all-time greats Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have confirmed their participation at Wimbledon, while the younger generation of men’s tennis stars like French Open finalist Jordan Ruud, upcoming Spanish Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz, and greek Stefanos Tsitsipas will be hoping to finally wrestle successfully with their legendary peers in the grand slams.

Also read: From Rafael Nadal to Novak Djokovic: Big guns prep for Wimbledon 2022

Here are the top 16 seeds for the Wimbledon Men’s Singles: 

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas , Carlos Alcaraz, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Hubert Hurkacz, Mateo Berrettini, Cameron Norrie, Jannik Sinner, Taylor Fritz, Diego Schwartzman, Denis Shapovalov, Marin Cilic, Opelka, Carreño Busta

Let’s take a look at 5 of the favourites for this year’s Men’s Title-

Novak Djokovic

Defending Champion, Novak Djokovic has not had the best of years this 2022 as he was not allowed to defend his 2021 Australian Open this January, after a political storm revolving around vaccine mandates took centre-stage, and culminated with the 10 World No. 1 being deported. He was back for the French Open in hot form though after winning the Italian Open without dropping a set. 

While he fell agonisingly short against the perennial king-of-clay Rafael Nadal playing out an epic 5 set thriller in the semifinals, the Serb will be quietly confident of getting the better of his dogged old competitor if they were to meet on the grass of Wimbledon as he seeks to successfully defend his title and win grand slam number 21.

Rafael Nadal 

2022 has been a bounteous year for the ageless Spaniard already as he has clean-swept the grand slams so far- winning the Australian Open in the absence of perhaps his greatest threat Novak Djokovic, before reaffirming his status as the GOAT of clay at this year’s French Open. 

While there were familiar signs of wear and tear in Nadal’s body by the end of the clay season, there were equally familiar signs of his never give up attitude, that has defined him through the years, and it will thus come as no surprise if Nadal were to stretch his lead at the top of the all-time grand slam list to win Grand Slam No 23 in London. 

Also read: Rafael Nadal wants to ‘play at Wimbledon’ despite left foot troubles

Carlos Alcaraz

Teenage sensation Carlos Alcatraz has burst into the scene this season and forced the world to take notice of his talents. The 19-year-old became the first ever player to defeat Djokovic and Nadal in a single clay-court tournament, taking care of them in consecutive days at the Madrid Open. He capped off his brilliant tournament by beating world number 2 Alexander Zverev in the final to win the Madrid Open. 

At 19 years of age, this also made him the youngest player in the history of the ATP tour to beat three top five players in the same tournament. He had also won the Barcelona open prior to this, which made him the youngest player to win the Madrid Open, as well as the Barcelona Open. 

His meteoric rise can be highlighted by the fact that he has become the youngest player since his illustrious compatriot Rafa Nadal to break into the ATP top 10 rankings in the world. A grand slam is surely not far away from this young lad, and it just might be this Wimbledon where he starts what promises to be a journey to cherish in elite tennis.

Also read: Volley of pain: Players injured and (perhaps) out of Wimbledon 2022

Casper Ruud

The first ever Norwegian to win an ATP Title, Casper has also enjoyed a breakthrough 2022. He rose to 5th on the ATP men’s ranking charts in June, after a purple patch that saw him take home the Argentina Open, followed by a run to the finals of the Miami Open, before reaching the semifinals of the Italian Open. 

His tremendous run has seen him go all the way into the finals of the French Open, where he fell painfully short against the evergreen Rafael Nadal. Indeed this run of form has seen the Ruud not just become the first from his country to win an ATP title- he also became the first Norwegian to take part in a grand slam final, the 1st to reach the final of an ATP 1000 event, and the first to break into the top 10 of the world rankings. He is definitely one to watch out for in this year’s tournament.

Stefanos Tsitspas

The fourth seeded Greek has come painfully close to winning his first grand slam on a few occasions before, and is a match for anyone on his day. He has won the Monte Carlo open this season and went deep in the Australian Open bowing out in the semifinals. He also competed in the finals of the Rotterdam Open and Italian Open as well as making semi-final appearances in the Mexican Open and the Madrid Open. 

What makes his performances especially impressive is that he is one of the few top stars today who is playing both the Men’s Singles game as well as the Men’s Doubles game actively and consistently. If he can play at the top of his game consistently in this tournament he shall ruffle more than a few feathers.