3 minute read
Sydney's Aleksandar Vukic has Carlos Alcaraz in his sights at Wimbledon, and has the form to trouble the defending champ if he can get past Sebastian Ofner.
Aleksandar Vukic arrives at Wimbledon this week on the back of his best form in nearly a year, which is very timely given Carlos Alcaraz looms on the horizon.
If Vukic defeats Austria's Sebastian Ofner in Monday's first round (early Tuesday AEST) he will, assuming Alcaraz wins his own opening tie against Mark Lajal, meet the defending champion on one of SW19's main show courts.
It will be the most high-profile match of the Sydneysider's career, eclipsing his meeting with Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells earlier this year.
Vukic took a set off the 24-times grand slam champ and said the match was "awesome, a great experience".
That experience will be invaluable should he face Alcaraz, as will the knowledge Vukic gained last year when he finally made his Wimbledon main draw debut at the age of 27.
A first-round win over Daniel Altmaier was followed by defeat to Quentin Halys, both higher-ranked, but the legendary grasscourt venue fully lived up to his expectations.
"I absolutely loved it. It's a surreal tournament, so I'm really excited again this year," he told AAP.
"I think my favourite part about it was at night when there wasn't anyone there. It was very quiet and majestic. I love the quiet of it.
"During the day, it's chaotic because there's so many people and it so tight and kind-of small."
Wimbledon is indeed a tight venue, and to reach the outside courts, players have to squeeze between the 40,000-odd spectators who pack the narrow gangways between courts.
Among the fans last year were Vukic's parents, Rad and Ljiljana. He has spoken before of the sacrifices the pair made in leaving their native Montenegro, then embroiled in the Balkan wars, to build a new life in Australia for Aleksandar and brother Vlad.
"They're going to come again this year," said Vukic. "I'm glad I can share this with them. It's nice, a really cool time."
Vukic broke into world's top 100 in May 2023 and has stayed there, but an injury-hit six months, plus adapting from primarily playing at Challenger level to mostly on the harder ATP circuit, meant he slid from a career-high 48 last August to 93 this May.
But he has since climbed back to 81 after reaching the quarter-final in the Netherlands at s'Hertogenbosh. That will rise again after reaching the semi-final at the Eastbourne International, on England's south coast, last week.
"A few injuries here and there halted me a little bit. But also when you're playing on the ATP tour you just don't get as many matches," he said.
"Every match is worth more - points, money, everything. You win one ATP match, it's basically equivalent to winning three (on the Challenger circuit).
"If you can be 50-50 (win-loss) on the ATP tour it is a great year. It's such a negative sport in that sense, but it's the truth. It's been a big learning curve for me."
And recently the wins have begun to outnumber the losses.
Besides defeating current world No.23 Alexander Bublik on his run to the semi-final in Eastbourne, where No.13 Fritz Taylor only prevailed via two tiebreaks, he has beaten former top-10 players Denis Shapovalov and Karen Khachanov.
All of these wins were on grass. Neither the dangerous Ofner, ranked 54 and a beaten finalist at the final pre-Wimbledon event in Mallorca on Saturday, nor Alcaraz should they meet, will take Vukic lightly.
