Over the course of the all-too-brief grass-court stretch leading up to Wimbledon, a number of players on both tours reached multiple finals—among them, former champions at what is arguably the sport’s most prestigious event.
As doubles play at the All England Club begins, will their respective runs of good form carry them through the fortnight or are more surprises in store, following the pattern of 2022’s other Grand Slams?
Based on the way the past few weeks have gone, no team is more primed to join the winner’s circle at the majors this year than Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, the defending champions. Seeded second, the Croatians enter Wimbledon with back-to-back titles on the grass. Pavic’s streak actually goes back a little further, as he won in Stuttgart with Hubert Hurkacz, making him the only player with three titles on the turf this year. Mektic and Pavic are heavy favorites to make it through to at least the semifinals relatively unscathed, though such pairings as Lloyd Glasspool/Harri Heliovaara, the 15th seeds they barely beat in the London final; fifth seeds Tim Puetz/Michael Venus; Kevin Krawietz/Andreas Mies, the 11th seeds; or an unseeded team like Mallorca runners-up Ariel Behar/Gonzalo Escobar could stand in their way.
Should Mektic and Pavic make it to the final four, they’re drawn to face French Open winners Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, the fourth seeds. However, that team could have its hands full—to the point of a potential upset—against two-time Wimbledon winner Jack Sock and his countryman, Dennis Kudla, who’s at his best on grass. 2019 Wimbledon champs Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, the sixth seeds, are also in this portion of the draw, along with Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis, this year’s surprise Australian Open victors and the 10th seeds at Wimbledon. If they are ready to battle through the best-of-five format Kyrgios has already spoken out about, another major could be theirs.