The last time Wimbledon had a men’s top seed outside of the Big Four (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray) was way back in 2003.

In 2023, as the Championships begin on Monday, it will be Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard who is barely out of his teens, will perhaps not even want to spend any time thinking about what happened to the top seed in 2003.

Then it was the 22-year-old Australian Lleyton Hewitt who had come in as the defending champion and top seed but was defeated in the first round by Ivo Karlovic. Hewitt never won another grand slam. And the fantastic era that saw the absolute domination of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, was about to start.

Cut to 2023. That domination is on the wane. And, slowly, a new order is emerging. Alcaraz happens to be the poster boy of that new era. With Wimbledon following the world rankings for both men and women from as recently as 2021, Alcaraz walks in as the top seed. However, he did win the Queen’s Club Championships — one of the main warm-up tournaments leading up to Wimbledon — to regain his world No. 1 rank.

Seven players have won The Queen’s Club and Wimbledon titles in the same year. John McEnroe (1981, 1984), Jimmy Connors (1982), Boris Becker (1985), Pete Sampras (1995, 1999), Lleyton Hewitt (2002), Nadal (2008) and Murray (2013, 2016) are all names that can give Alcaraz the confidence that he too may win his first big one on grass this year.

But Alcaraz, who is still trying to tame the rather tricky surface, knows what he is up against. Guarding the old order is Djokovic, seeded second. And Alcaraz is cautious about the 36-year-old’s presence at the grass-court slam. “Doesn’t change too much whether I play Wimbledon No. 1 or No. 2. Novak is coming to Wimbledon,” the US Open champion had said after his Queen’s win.

Being the top two seeds, Alcaraz and Djokovic will be placed in different halves of the draw, and will only face each other if they make the final. Is Djokovic, seeded second, still the favourite to win? Perhaps yes. The defending champion, whose world No. 1 ranking has been on a roller coaster ride mostly because his 2022 Wimbledon victory did not earn him any ranking points, will surely be keen to carry on with his major-winning run this year.

With a record 23 grand slam singles titles in his possession, he is now eyeing his eighth Wimbledon crown to equal Federer. There is no doubt that his prowess on grass is far more established than that of his young challenger for whom the Queen’s was only this third tournament on grass. Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, Andrey Rublev, Jannik Sinner, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe follow Alcaraz and Novak in the seedings. And theoretically, they all have a chance to win, as do any of the other players in the fray. But the focus at SW19 refuses to go beyond the top two.

Djokovic has been defeated in the past by Alcaraz and Rune. But the steely resolve that has been on display over decades still gives him the edge. Alcaraz has a lot of positives. But the next-gen leader, who crashed out against the Serb in the French Open semi-final, has his work cut out if he has to live up to the expectations and dethrone Djokovic at the Centre Court. His run at Wimbledon has been anything but impressive. He lost in the second round in 2021 and the fourth in 2022.

The next two weeks should see the next-gen players emerging, fighting, trying to make a mark for themselves in what had been for long a Federer-Nadal-Djokovic slate. At Wimbledon, only Djokovic stands tall representing the old order and Andy Murray remains a dangerous floater though unseeded.

With Federer having already called it a day and Nadal not playing, the spotlight is definitely on Alcaraz and Djokovic. Will this Wimbledon be the catalyst that brings the supremacy of the new over the old? Or will the old order’s representative still rule?

That seems to be the question on every tennis fans’ lips. Novak vs Alcaraz — no other final will be deemed worthy this time around. The 20-year-old Spaniard, however, has these numbers to contend with — 1 vs 23, 0 vs 7. Unequal rivalry, perhaps. But it promises to be one for the record books.

IGA’S CHANCES

Like the men, the women’s defending champion is also not the top seed. That honour goes to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.

The US and French Open champion, however, doesn’t have an impressive record on grass. Her best at Wimbledon has been the fourth-round finish in 2021, and she lost in the third round last year. But given Swiatek’s current form, her chances at Big W cannot be overlooked.

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who was not allowed to play last year, is seeded second. She had made the semi-finals in 2021 and is a serious contender. Defending champion Elena Rybakina is the third seed. If she stays fit, she may emerge the winner this time too. Last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur is seeded sixth. Seventh-seed Coco Gauff is another player to watch out for. The women’s championship remains very open and it is difficult to point out a favourite.