Wimbledon 2024: Four ATP dark horse candidates that can win the title

Heading into Wimbledon 2024, a safe assumption is that Carlos Alcaraz is going to be one of the favorites. He won the tournament last year and is fresh off winning the French Open at the beginning of June. He might not be ranked No. 1 on the ATP tour currently, but when he is playing in peak form, he might be the best player in the world.

Jannik Sinner is currently atop the ATP rankings and seems to constantly be evolving. He hasn't yet won at Wimbledon, but he did make the semifinals last year. After the tournament, he won three titles the rest of the year and then began 2024 by winning the Australian Open. He is a clear threat to Alcaraz's crown.

Perhaps the other player that might be considered among the favorites is Novak Djokovic. The Serb has won the grass-court major seven times. He is trying to come back from knee surgery, though, so his physical fitness is still in question. Beyond Alcaraz, Sinner, and Djokovic, these four dark horse candidates could take the title.

Four dark horse candidates on the men's side that could steal the Wimbledon title in 2024

Tommy Paul

Paul is far from being the biggest server in tennis, though if he gets hot then he can serve with pace and excellent placement. He also moves around the court extremely well which is a must on grass. If Paul had any doubts he could win at Wimbledon, winning Queen's Club this past week is certainly going to give him some confidence.

Paul is also playing the most consistently good tennis of his career in 2024. He already has two titles and has moved up to No. 12 on the ATP tour. He might have to simply outlast other players during some matches, but he has the pure ball-striking skill to compete with anyone.

Hubert Hurkacz

Hurkacz has not played a ton of events on grass courts, but his game seems made for the surface. He has a huge serve and can follow that with good net play. If he can hold most of his service games, he is going to be a challenge for anyone he faces. The key is to be consistent with his serve.

Between 2018 and 2020, Hurkacz won about 80 percent of his service games. Not bad, but only slightly better than average. After re-tooling his serve, he has held serve 88 percent of the time. His power should be enough to get him deep in the tournament. He has won a grass-court tournament before as well - Halle in 2022.

Ben Shelton

Surprisingly, Shelton has not done well on grass so far in his short career. He has a record of 2-5. His serve should be powerful enough on the surface to keep opponents guessing, though. One aspect he has had to learn is to use touch a bit more. He cannot simply try to beat opponents from the baseline.

Should he come into Wimbledon with a great game plan and stick to that even when matches seem tight, he should be able to serve his way out of trouble. To prepare for next week's major, Shelton played in the Mallorca Championships. He won to open the tournament and any experience on grass - win or lose - is a positive ahead of Wimbledon.

Alex de Minaur

De Minaur seems bent on playing a lot of tennis this year. He has already participated in 45 matches. That means he should be in top fitness for next week's tournament. In many ways, de Minaur is the Australian version of Tommy Paul. Neither is overpowering, though both can hit with pace. The difference between de Minaur and most other players, though, is how well he moves around the court.

Players who defeat de Minaur do not do so without a lot of perfect shot placement. Otherwise, the Aussie is going to chase down everything. If he can stay in matches, he could do the same thing at Wimbledon that Coco Gauff did at the US Open last year. That is to make life miserable for his opponent and to steal enough points to find that by the end of the tournament, he is the winner.

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