Experts weigh in: Can Alcaraz and Gauff win another major? What about Djokovic?

Just three weeks ago, Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz were crowned French Open champions -- and both are among the favorites again as Wimbledon begins Monday.

Alcaraz is the two-time defending champion at the All England Club -- could he become the fifth man in the Open era to achieve a three-peat at Wimbledon? Or will Jannik Sinner avenge his French Open final loss to Alcaraz to win his first Grand Slam title on grass?

Gauff, meanwhile, has now won two major titles but has never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon. And the women's field is wide open -- the past eight Wimbledon titles have been won by different women.

Could Aryna Sabalenka win her first Wimbledon title? Or will Iga Swiatek bounce back from a difficult year to claim the crown?

And what about Novak Djokovic? Could he somehow win a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title?

Our experts weigh in on these pressing questions and more.

How will Gauff follow up her French Open title?

D'Arcy Maine: Gauff arrives at Wimbledon -- where she has been as beloved as just about any player since her breakthrough at the event in 2019 -- brimming with confidence and self-belief and certainly could be in a position to have her best result at the tournament.

But it's not going to be easy. Despite her auspicious debut six years ago at the All England Club in which she reached the fourth round, she has never advanced past that point and lost in her opening-round match in her lone grass-court lead-in event in Berlin earlier this month.

And, perhaps most importantly, she is in an incredibly tough quarter of the draw and could face a number of challenging opponents, including Dayana Yastremska in the first round, potential second- and third-round meetings with former Australian Open champions Victoria Azarenka and Sofia Kenin (who upset her at Wimbledon in 2023), grass standout Liudmila Samsonova in the fourth round and either five-time major victor Iga Swiatek or 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals. So, that's a tall order and I'm frankly exhausted just typing all of that. Gauff certainly could win all of those matches, but it seems unlikely she will win major title No. 3 during the fortnight.

Bill Connelly: Gauff is definitely to the point where it would not be a surprise if she won any single tournament -- her defense and speed are always elite, as is her ability to grind out wins when things threaten to go wayward. But her draw has so many landmines, and she's only 9-6 on grass over the past two years. In fact, even including that initial upset of Venus Williams six years ago, she's just 7-9 all time against top-50 players on grass, including three straight losses. She'll likely have to get past three top-50 players just to get to Rybakina or Swiatek in the quarterfinals. That sounds like a bit too much to ask.

Simon Cambers: This could go one of two ways. Either Gauff goes to Wimbledon feeling as if she can do anything, buoyed by the confidence of winning at Roland Garros, or she'll be exhausted, mentally, and lose early. It's a funny one, this. In some ways, she should be high on confidence after winning the French Open and there's no doubt that she'll be walking even taller after coming out on top in Paris.

But in another way, I feel as if she never really played her best at Roland Garros, and while that's also her thing, doing what it takes to win even when she's not playing great tennis, on grass, where the ball will be flashing around faster than it does on clay, she won't have much time to get up to speed, especially if any part of her game is malfunctioning.

If she can serve well, then she'll give herself a chance of doing well, because she moves great and competes as well as anyone. But her draw is very tough; Dayana Yastremska is no pushover first up, Sofia Kenin or Taylor Townsend might be awkward in the third round and then Daria Kasatkina in the fourth and either Iga Swiatek or Elena Rybakina would be ultratough in the quarters. If she can get to Week 2, she'll be hard to beat but that won't be easy.

If there's another epic Alcaraz vs. Sinner clash, who will prevail?

Maine: At this stage, I'm going to have to go with recent history and take Alcaraz. He has won eight of their 12 career meetings, including the past five. Sinner hasn't beaten Alcaraz -- on any surface, in any round of any tournament -- since 2023 and has defeated him only once (three years ago) with a title on the line.

Sinner is No. 1 in the world for good reason and can beat everyone else, but Alcaraz seems to be his kryptonite. For now, anyway. (But I'll reserve my Serena Williams-Maria Sharapova comparison for a later date.) And, since Alcaraz is the two-time defending Wimbledon champion and coming off yet another grass title at Queen's Club, and Sinner has advanced only once to the semifinals at the All England Club, it certainly feels as if the odds would be in Alcaraz's favor again.

Connelly: Alcaraz better hope it's him. We've entered a period where it feels as if he'll be the favorite in the natural-surface Slams (French Open, Wimbledon), and Sinner will be the favorite on hard courts (US Open, Australian Open). But obviously that French Open final was as even as possible -- total points: Sinner 193, Alcaraz 192 -- and had Sinner won basically one more point at the right time, we'd be talking about him having a chance at a calendar-year Slam and ripping off a "Roger Federer, 2004-07" run of Slams.

Alcaraz is definitely the favorite, both because he's far more proven on grass and because Sinner might have to get past Djokovic on what is Djokovic's best surface and Sinner's worst. But ... Sinner seems to be figuring things out.

Cambers: Alcaraz has the pedigree on grass, having won the title in each of the past two years, even if Sinner did win their only previous battle on the surface, at Wimbledon in 2022. Everything depends on how quickly Sinner is able to get over what happened in Paris. He seems the kind of person who can compartmentalize, who can rationalize that tournament as a good one, a step forward, even if others would be crumbling after failing on three match points in a Slam final. But it's hard to see him being at his best again just yet, especially on a surface which, in theory, can give him issues.

Alcaraz will be tired, too, but as he showed at Queen's, when he came through a bunch of tight matches to win the title, he will improve as the tournament progresses. With a good draw early, he can ease into the event and then will strengthen as the bigger matches arrive. If they do meet again here, that means it's the final and you'd have to give Alcaraz the edge, mentally, simply because of what happened in Paris.

Can Djokovic set the Grand Slam record at Wimbledon?

Maine: Can he? Yes. Will he? That I'm not so sure of. But I do believe Wimbledon is his best chance of claiming the elusive 25th major title because of his success at the tournament and his experience on grass, which remains a tricky surface for many of his younger peers. His path to a seventh consecutive final could be difficult with British favorite Jack Draper as a potential quarterfinal opponent and Sinner as his likely semifinal foe. But even as Sinner defeated him in the same round in Paris, this meeting would feel far more even on grass. And if Djokovic were to advance, he could set up the ultimate rematch with Alcaraz.

Djokovic would have no shortage of motivation and maybe, just maybe, he could pull off a performance similar to that he displayed in the gold medal match against Alcaraz at the Paris Olympics last year. As he has hinted about retirement in the near future, I can't imagine a more perfect farewell for Djokovic at his favorite and most revered major.

Connelly: Considering Alcaraz sure seems to have surpassed him on grass (that was quite the pummeling in last year's Wimbledon final), and considering he'll probably have to beat both Sinner and Alcaraz, it feels like a lot to ask, yeah.

But if it's going to happen, it's going to happen at Wimbledon, and I was really impressed with how Djokovic played at Roland Garros. It wasn't just that he reached the semifinals -- he made the quarterfinals while playing with a torn meniscus the year before. It's that he was in a really good rhythm from the very start of the tournament. He won four matches without dropping a set, and he manhandled Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. He couldn't figure out how to take a set from an in-form Sinner, but on grass he might find an extra edge or two.

Cambers: It's his best chance, that's for sure. I thought Djokovic actually played really well against Sinner in the semifinals in Paris but on that surface, with just that split second more time for Sinner to load up his big groundstrokes, it just wasn't possible for Djokovic, not at 38 years old. Grass gives Djokovic more of an opportunity; not only does he move better than most on it, his serve, still criminally underrated, gets that bit more purchase and is even more effective.

Motivation will be higher at Wimbledon than anywhere else. It's only a year since Djokovic reached the final and that was when he had just undergone knee surgery. There's little difference between being 37 and 38, and he knows better than anyone what needs to be done. Another win would give him Slam No. 25, but also equal Roger Federer on eight Wimbledon titles, which is something I'm sure would give him huge satisfaction.

But in addition to giving up more than 15 years to two of the fittest players in the world, his big problem now is that he will probably have to beat both Sinner and Alcaraz to win it, as well as Draper in the quarterfinals. That is probably too much.

Which player could surprise in the next two weeks?

Maine: I wish I could say surprise French Open semifinalist Lois Boisson, but she lost in the first round of qualifying because, you know, tennis. But there are quite a few under-the-radar players who are capable of pulling off big upsets and making deep runs. It feels weird to mention someone who won the title just two years ago, but Marketa Vondrousova is unseeded -- as she was in 2023 -- and was sidelined for much of the spring because of a shoulder injury. But she thrives on grass and won her first title since her Wimbledon triumph this month in Berlin behind several impressive wins. She would potentially face Sabalenka in the third round, but she handily defeated her 6-2, 6-4 in the Berlin semis and could certainly do it again.

Honorable mention here to Alexandra Eala, who reached the final in Eastbourne this week, and could stun defending champion Barbora Krejcikova (who withdrew from Eastbourne because of a thigh injury) in the first round.

Connelly: On the men's side, my eyes immediately go to Zverev's quarter, easily the most likely quarter to produce a surprise run. Taylor Fritz has a decent draw if he can get past big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round, and if Matteo Berrettini is ever going to find a fun rhythm again, it'll be here. But let's go with Gabriel Diallo. The 23-year-old Canadian won at Hertogenbosch, beating three top-40 opponents in the process, and his straight-sets win over Francisco Cerundolo at the French Open was another hint at a big, versatile game. He'll have to take down Fritz in the second round to make a big run, but he has it in him.

On the women's side, Jasmine Paolini's quarter is probably the most likely to produce a surprise, and ... I'm sorry, I can't help it. I'm just going to keep picking Naomi Osaka to make a run until it happens. Grass is not her best surface, and she again received a poor draw -- she might have to face No. 5 Zheng Qinwen in the second round. She has lost four straight matches to top-20 opponents, but three of the four went deep into the third set. She's really close to a breakthrough.

Cambers: I'm going to say Berrettini. I know he's a former finalist at Wimbledon, but he has been unlucky with injuries since and not really been able to build the kind of momentum that otherwise would have made him a real threat to go deep. If he can stay away from another injury, and I admit it's a big if, he is in Zverev's section, a winnable match for him, which could propel him right through to the last eight, where a matchup with Fritz would give him a genuine chance of making the last four again.

Which first-round matchup are you most excited about?

Connelly: "Joao Fonseca versus whoever" is typically a pretty watchable option, and the 18-year-old Fonseca drew an interesting player in Jacob Fearnley, who returns well and stretched Djokovic quite a bit in the second round last year. And Fritz vs. Mpetschi Perricard should produce some serious fireworks.

On the women's side, Kenin faces Townsend (each has scored a pair of straight-sets wins over the other), and we have a pair of recent champions facing off with Vondrousova v. McCartney Kessler. Vondrousova obviously has more Slam experience and looked spectacular in beating three top-12 opponents to win Berlin last week, but Kessler also beat four top-50 women to win at Nottingham. She looks very much at home on grass and also nearly beat Zheng at Queen's Club.

Cambers: I'm also looking forward to the battle between Fonseca and Fearnley. Both men have shot up the rankings in the past year and Fearnley's outstanding attitude is taking him a long way. But Fonseca has already shown he has the talent to go right to the top, if things go well for him, and though his grass-court experience is very limited, he has power, poise and real belief.

My second one is the all-American clash between Kenin and Townsend. Kenin is the favorite on form but with that wicked lefty serve and deft hand skills, Townsend has the game to really unsettle her on grass. Plus, she won three matches in qualifying to make the main draw, so she has momentum.

Maine: Is it me or does it feel as if there are so many marquee opening-round matchups? I mentioned the Eala-Krejcikova match in the previous question and that remains a can't-miss for me, but sentimentally speaking it's hard not to spotlight what could be Petra Kvitova's final Wimbledon match. The two-time tournament champion announced she would be retiring later this season and has to play No. 10 seed Emma Navarro in the opening round. If anyone can find some last-minute Wimbledon magic, it has to be Kvitova and this has potential to be a memorable outing.

On the men's side, I'm with Simon and Bill: that Fonseca-Fearnley clash could be epic, and the fans will undoubtedly show up for both players in a big way, no matter what court they're playing on.