Wimbledon 2023: Why Carlos Alcaraz is seeded ahead of Novak Djokovic?

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The Wimbledon 2023 seeds were announced on Wednesday (June 28). The top 32 players were chosen in both men's and women's categories for the upcoming tournament.

The prestigious Wimbledon starts on July 3 this year at the All England Club in London. Top tennis stars across the globe will be locking horns to win the grass-court tournament.

Novak Djokovic, who recently made history by becoming the most grand slam winner, is eyeing his 5th straight Wimbledon title. The Serbian player won his 23rd Grand Slam in the French Open recently.

But despite his monumental record, the player has been seeded no. 2, behind Carlos Alcaraz, who incidentally was the beaten finalist at Roland Garros. Fans questioned the decision of Wimbledon to seed Alcaraz ahead of Djokovic.

Why Alcaraz seeded ahead of Djokovic in Wimbledon 2023

Carlos Alcaraz is nowhere near the volume of Novak Djokovic. But the Spanish player got the no. 1 seed for a Wimbledon governing body decision in 2020.

In 2020, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) decided to discontinue their seeding based on grass court performances and adhered to seed both women's and men's players for Wimbledon based on their ATP ranks.

"Given the quality of competition, entertainment and modern grass courts, following detailed discussion with the player groups, the AELTC has decided that the grass court seeding formula used since 2002 has served its time. From The Championships 2021, seeding for the Gentlemen's singles draw will be based solely on ranking," an official statement from AELTC back in 2020 read.

Alcaraz won his first grass court title last week at The Queen's Club, and thus reclaimed the top spot in the ATP rankings. That is why the 20-year-old is the top-seeded player in the tournament.

Djokovic, who is currently ranked 2nd, immediately follows his much-younger rival. They are also projected in a way that the duo can only meet in the Final.