{"id":406464,"date":"2024-06-26T08:56:38","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T08:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=406464"},"modified":"2024-06-26T10:05:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T10:05:01","slug":"dokic-backs-demon-as-wimbledon-title-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=406464","title":{"rendered":"Dokic backs Demon as Wimbledon title prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian tennis great Jelena Dokic has backed Alex de Minaur<\/a> to be among the top four men's singles title prospects at Wimbledon<\/a> later this month.<\/p>\n

Dokic<\/a>, who famously reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals as a 16-year-old qualifier in 1999, predicted de Minaur will have a grand slam breakthrough placing him in the mix in contention to take out the title.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old is expected to receive a trickier draw than he otherwise would have after his shock first-round defeat to Italy's Lorenzo Musetti dropped him from seventh to ninth in the world rankings. \ufeff<\/p>\n

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Had de Minaur been in the top eight when the latest ATP world rankings were released, he would have avoided playing higher ranked-players including defending champion Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, seven-time winner Novak Djokovic<\/a>, and world No.1 Jannik Sinner<\/a> until at least the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Djokovic has yet to confirm if he will compete at Wimbledon this year as he continues to recover from knee surgery which ruled him out of the French Open<\/a>. He declared earlier this week that he will only return if he is able to "fight for his title."<\/p>\n

Former world No.1 Andy Murray is also in doubt for what could be his final appearance in Wimbledon as he underwent surgery on a spinal cyst<\/a> earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Dokic said de Minaur's Queen's result should not raise concerns as the transition from clay to grass surfaces is one of the toughest to make in the sport.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

"I don't think a loss here and there is anything to worry about," she said.<\/p>\n

"I think (de Minaur) is primed and ready to do really well at grand slams like he showed at Roland Garros making the quarter-finals when it wasn't even his favourite surface.<\/p>\n

"He's really got a game for grass, he's more aggressive, a much more mature player, he comes forward so well now as well, that transition to the net which is so important."\ufeff<\/p>\n

De Minuar is one of nine men and two women who are guaranteed to represent Australia on the Wimbledon grass this month with 17 others currently competing in qualifying.<\/p>\n

After recording consistent \ufeffvictories over top-10 rivals, Dokic believes de Minaur has gained a new sense of belief and improved physicality that will help him through the pressure following his brilliant run at the Roland Garros.<\/p>\n

Watch Wimbledon 2024 from July 1 live and exclusively free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Plus centre court in 4K UHD on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, the home of grand slam tennis.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

"The pressure is all on him [among the Australians], and deservedly so. I think pressure is a privilege, and he is embracing that now. He knows how to deal with it," Dokic said.<\/p>\n

"He won in 's-Hertogenbosch leading into it, and I don't think a loss here and there is anything to worry about. He will be a really high seed, and he'll be looking to make the second week.<\/p>\n

"He had a heartbreaking loss a few years ago when he had match points (against Cristian Garin) to get into the quarter-finals, but I think he's primed and ready to do really well.<\/p>\n

"He's got a game for grass \u2013 he's more aggressive, he's a much more mature player, and he comes forward so well now as well."<\/p>\n

Dokic predicts Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka will replicate their Australian Open<\/a> success on the Wimbledon grass, however, declared that Ajla Tomljanovic<\/a> will be a "dark horse" in the women's draw.<\/p>\n

\"Jelena<\/p>\n

"Sometimes you need the luck of the draw, so we'll see how the draw turns out, but you've just got to go with that confidence," she said.<\/p>\n

"They've now had those matches on grass under their belt \u2013 nothing can replace that \u2013 so they've definitely got the confidence.<\/p>\n

"Jordan won his first title this year as well, and Ajla has done a good job coming back from injuries and is so dangerous on grass.<\/p>\n

"She really has one of those really dangerous games. She's a flatter hitter, she's got a big game, and a big backhand that she causes so many problems with for a lot of other players."\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian tennis great Jelena Dokic has backed Alex de Minaur to be among the top four men's singles title prospects at Wimbledon later this month. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":406466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=406464"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":406470,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406464\/revisions\/406470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/406466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=406464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=406464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=406464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}