Having finally added a Grand Slam title to his collection earlier this month at the French Open, Alexander Zverev will be brimming with confidence as he begins his campaign at Wimbledon. However, former ATP pro and John McEnroe’s brother, Patrick McEnroe, still isn’t convinced with Zverev and feels that he can’t be considered one of the favorites to win the coveted SW19 title.

“Zverev, I would not put as a favourite,” he said in an interview with SportsBoom.com. “I would put [Taylor] Fritz ahead of him. Fritz just beat him in a close match. I would probably put [Ben] Shelton slightly ahead of him. Other than that, as favourites go, it’s hard to find.”

McEnroe is referring to the semis of the Terra Wortmann Open, where Zverev had suffered a 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 defeat to Taylor Fritz. Despite arguably being in the form of his life, the German still failed to clinch his maiden title on grass in front of his home crowd. Turns out that McEnroe’s point about him not being the favorite at Wimbledon does make sense.

Grass is easily Zverev’s least preferred surface, and he just can’t seem to grind results on it. His record at Wimbledon is quite concerning, in particular. He holds a win-loss record of 16-9 in the nine editions that he has played so far. The 29-year-old’s best result at the Grand Slam has only been a fourth-round finish, a feat that he had achieved in 2017, 2021, and 2024.

Zverev had suffered a shocking first-round exit at SW19 last season. He had come up on the losing side after a dramatic five-set clash against Arthur Rinderknech. Though the World No. 3 does have a decent win-rate of 66.7% on grass, he just hasn’t been able to rack up results when it comes to Wimbledon.

However, his early exit from the Grand Slam last season may prove to be a plus point for him in the coming days. Due to the first-round elimination, Zverev won’t be defending any points at the SW19 this season. This will put a lot of pressure off his shoulders and will allow him to play freely without worrying too much about the rankings. He will commence his Wimbledon campaign with the clash against Alexander Blockx in the first round.

Though Zverev did prove his doubters wrong by clinching the Roland Garros title, McEnroe believes that he simply can’t be considered a bigger contender than some of the other top players in the competition.

Although he believes Jannik Sinner to be his clear favorite to win the SW19 title this season and also predicted Novak Djokovic to be back at his best.

“There’s no doubt who the favorite is, it’s Sinner. He’s the clear favorite. I would probably put Djokovic  at the moment as a second favourite because I thought he, you know, played pretty well in Paris even though he lost early,” he said in the interview.

It is hard to argue against Sinner as not only is he the defending champion, but his chances to win have been boosted due to Carlos Alcaraz’s withdrawal from the Grand Slam. On the other hand, there aren’t a lot of expectations around Djokovic this season due to his poor form and physical struggles. But underestimating the seven-time Wimbledon champion certainly won’t be a wise choice for any opponent.