Wimbledon Men's Tips: Jokers in the pack to back up to 239/1

• Alcaraz and Sinner justified favourites

• Will Djokovic play?

• Grass court specialists are the value

Hot on the heels of their epic five set encounter at the French Open Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are primed to battle it out for the most prestigious title in tennis.

As was the case for their duel in Paris there is very little to pick between the new top two in men's tennis with Sinner 2.8615/8 favoured marginally ahead of Alcaraz 3.052/1 to win Wimbledon.

It is hard to disagree with that assessment based on their collective dominance of the 2024 season to date.

Sinner won the Australian Open and has maintained an incredible level of form throughout the season, bagging his first grass court title in Halle last week. Whereas Alcaraz won in Paris and is the defending Wimbledon champion.

The standards set by this golden duo are unlikely to be matched, so I am looking down the card at some potential jokers in the pack that can deliver a knock out punch on their day.

Will Djokovic play at Wimbledon?

There may be some movement in the Sinner and Alcaraz odds should Novak Djokovic 5.85/1 declare himself fit.

The seven time Wimbledon champ has arrived in SW19 to test his physical readiness following the knee surgery that ended his French Open. Despite wearing supportive strapping, reports suggest he is moving well.

Should he take to court it should be a warning signal for the rest of the field. Nobody moves better or returns better on a grass court than Djokovic. He would be able to handle 99% of the field in one way or another, and even without too much preparation.

However, it is lower down the running order where I am chancing my arm.

Back dark horse Berrettini at Wimbledon

From 2003 onwards at least one of Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray have contested the Wimbledon final.

Some of their opponents in finals, however, may make for Pointless answers as the years pass.

Since 2016 finalists include Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic, Kevin Anderson, Matteo Berrettini and Nick Kyrgios. All are big serving players with a taste for grass.

There are a couple of alternative options that have a similar profile and should they find form over this next fortnight may well find themselves in contention.

The first is the aforementioned Berrettini. The Italian arrives at the Championships as an unseeded player after an injury plagued two years.

However, in his fleeting tour appearances this season he has left his mark. He lifted the title in Casablanca in only his second tournament back on tour, before another injury spell on the injury table. He then reappeared for the grass season reaching the final of the grass court tournament in Stuttgart.

Berrettini has a very useful toolkit for grass court tennis. He is a massive server, with a potent forehand and even the backhand that is often his weakness on other surfaces tends to come in handy.

At 36.035/1 Berrettini is a lively dark horse.

Kazakhstani is bubbling under

My other selection is the highly flamboyant Alexander Bublik at 240239/1.

The Kazakhstani is an enigmatic talent that has the game to be successful on grass as shown in his Halle victory last season. He packs a punch on serve and has a highly imaginative approach to the game. It is unclear what he will produce from one point to the next.

It may be a stretch but Bublik if he can keep focused on the task of hand has the profile that can work at Wimbledon. He has exceeded his seeding expectation in each of his past three campaigns and will be seeded at around 22 for this event.

He has the ability to make his market price look silly, but equally could self sabotage his chances when its unexpected. At 240.0239/1 why not try Bublik to add his name to the roll of unlikely Wimbledon finalists.

Now read Wimbledon Women's Tips: Two to back at 16/1 and 37/1 plus outsiders to consider