Taylor Fritz, on Sunday, won his fourth ATP Tour title on grass and ninth overall, as he beat World No. 3 Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6(0) to lift the Stuttgart trophy.
While American produced a splendid show on serve in the rain-disrupted final to maintain his dominant recent record against the German, the result brought bad news for Novak Djokovic ahead of Wimbledon.
The reason simply boils down to ranking. Jack Draper, previously ranked fourth, failed to defend his crown in Stuttgart as he suffered an opening-round exit, and hence fell to the sixth position in the live rankings. While the fourth spot was Djokovic’s for the taking, Fritz’s unlikely victory saw the American move to the top four.
Fritz’s move, hence, left Djokovic in the fifth spot. With the Serb not playing any tune-up event ahead of the Wimbledon, his ranking is likely to remain the same, implying that he could be in for a nightmarish draw at the SW19. His current ranking means that the 24-time Grand Slam winner could face either Jannik Sinner (No. 1), Carlos Alcaraz (2) or in-form Zverev (3) and Fritz (4) in the quarterfinal.
Djokovic still has the edge over the German, who he defeated comfortably in the Roland Garros quarterfinals earlier this month, and against Fritz, to whom he has never lost, but a potential spot in Alcaraz or Sinner’s quarter could leave the former champion in danger of an early exit.
Djokovic is an eight-time Wimbledon champion and has reached the final in each of the seven times he has played in London since 2018-which includes four titles in a row and two consecutive defeats to Alcaraz.
Djokovic heads to London on the back of a semifinal exit at the Roland Garros earlier this month, where he lost to Sinner. An injury in Melbourne forced him to retire during the semifinal against Zverev in the Australian Open.