Martina Navratilova believes Carlos Alcaraz is having a major effect on Wimbledon even though he was forced to miss the event with a wrist injury.
The Spaniard injured his wrist at the Barcelona Open, and it was so severe that it forced him out of the next two Grand Slams at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
While Alcaraz is likely set to return at the Canadian Open at the beginning of August, Martina Navratilova believes his playstyle is still having an influence over the players of Wimbledon this year.
Speaking during Jelena Ostepenko’s first round match against Harriet Dart at SW19, Navratilova was taken aback by the amount of drop shots the Latvian was hitting.
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“Ostapenko has two drop shots in two games. Whose fault is that? I blame [Carlos] Alcaraz for this!,” said Navratilova while on commentary for the BBC.
“He started the drop shout mania and now so many players are seeing how effective it is and using it a lot more,” said the multi-time Wimbledon champion.
Navratilova then took the time to send a message to the Spaniard after his lengthy time away from tennis. She said: “We need him on the court.”
Although Alcaraz is not playing at Wimbledon this year, he will likely have a keen eye on what happens, especially during the men’s side of the draw.
The World No 2 could suffer a fall down the rankings at Wimbledon this year, for the first time since he suffered his wrist injury in April.
The Spaniard has lost 1300 ranking points as Wimbledon kicks off, after the star is unable to defend his appearance in the final from the 2025 season.
At least year’s event, Alcaraz was beaten in the final by Sinner, which was his first defeat at Wimbledon for three years, as he won the event in 2023 and 2024.
This gives Alexander Zverev a very big chance of usurping the World No 2 at this year’s Wimbledon, as there are just 970 ranking points splitting the German and the Spaniard.
Zverev was knocked out of the first round of Wimbledon last year, so he has the perfect opportunity to gain ranking points at this year’s Grand Slam.
The World No 3 will need to reach the final of the event this year in order to take over from Alcaraz as the World No 3, which is definitely possible.
Zverev is in the opposite side of the draw to his nemesis Jannik Sinner, so he will not meet the World No 1 until the final at the earliest. As a result, the German is arguably the favourite in his section of the draw to reach the final of the Grand Slam.
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