Djokovic Seeded Seventh at Wimbledon as Draw Looms

The Wimbledon grass remembers Novak Djokovic dropping to his knees. He lifted the trophy here seven times, seven times looking up at the sky after the final point. This year he walks onto the same lawn with a different sheet of paper in his hand. Next to his name on the seedings list sits the number seven, not the number you would expect from a man who turned this tournament into his living room.

That is a story on its own. Djokovic is only the seventh seed, his lowest ranking in several years, and more than anything it tells you how thin his season has been on matches played. He has entered just four tournaments, and we last saw him at Roland Garros, where he went out in the third round. Few matches, few points, a lower spot on the list. The math is cold and makes no exceptions, not even for record holders.

What does the seventh seed mean for the draw?

The draw is on Friday, June 26, and that is where the real story starts. Being the seventh seed means Djokovic could run into one of the strongest opponents as early as the quarterfinals, instead of the system shielding him until the semifinals as it did for years. In other words, his road to the final is steeper than it used to be. The top seed and defending champion is Jannik Sinner, who lifted his first Wimbledon trophy last year after beating Djokovic in the semifinals and then defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the final.

That is exactly why Friday is no formality. Who falls in Djokovic’s quarter and who falls in Sinner’s decides whether we get their next clash before the very end or only in the final. For a fan in Serbia, that is the first detail to look for the moment the list comes out. Everything else is a second question.

The numbers behind the story

The figures around Djokovic stay heavy even when he is the number seven seed. Seven Wimbledon titles place him at the very top of this tournament’s history. He is chasing a record 25th Grand Slam title, which would lift him clear of everyone he currently shares the all-time summit with. Grass has always been his surface, the one where the low bounce rewards his timing and his low guard when returning serve.

But the number seven seed is not handed out on reputation. It is earned on results from the current season, and this time they are sparse. Four tournaments for the whole stretch before Wimbledon is little for someone used to stacking up matches. The question is whether that is energy saved for the grass or a sign that his body now chooses which events to say yes to. The answer starts being written the moment Djokovic plays his first match.

What comes next

The tournament begins on June 29 and runs to July 12, and Friday’s draw lays out the first map of the road. If Djokovic reaches the final from the seventh seed position, it would rank among his harder runs at this trophy, because the seeding net is not on his side this time. The grass still trusts him; the numbers next to his name a little less.

Is the seventh seed just paper, or is this the first Wimbledon where Djokovic starts as a challenger rather than a favorite?