By Aadi Nair Wimbledon begins on Monday, with defending champion Jannik Sinner chasing a fifth Grand Slam title and women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka chasing her first Major of the year.In the absence of rival and two-time Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner is the clear favourite this year, but the Italian may have to contend with the hot weather and his own lack of preparation as he seeks to defend his title.After his second-round defeat at the French Open from a near-winning position when he cramped up in sizzling conditions, the 24-year-old skipped the warm-up tournaments ahead of the grasscourt slam.He said this could work to his benefit, however, ahead of his opening clash with Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic on Monday.“If you play a tournament before here, maybe it’s not going the way you would like to, you come here with some doubts,” he told reporters on Saturday.“If you don’t play any tournament, you don’t have these doubts, you just go and play.”Aryna Sabalenka. Picture: (Claudia Greco) Sabalenka has been at the top of the WTA rankings since late 2024, but the Belarusian has only won one Grand Slam title in the past 18 months, despite reaching four finals. She also suffered a collapse against Diana Shnaider in the French Open quarterfinals last month, losing the last 10 games in a row. She said after that she wanted to “quit tennis” but has since worked with a psychologist and said she was not affected as much by losing to Jessica Pegula in this month’s Berlin Open semifinals.“I felt really good throughout the tournament there. I struggled a little here and there, [but] overall I feel like things are clicking back together,” she told reporters ahead of her opening match against Teodora Kostovic.The four-time Major champion has never won Wimbledon, but she has reached the semifinals in her last three appearances.Novak Djokovic has spent the last 2½ years trying to capture a 25th Major crown that would see him overtake Margaret Court. Wimbledon could be his best bet for achieving that.Since he won his seventh Wimbledon title in 2022, the Serb has reached two finals and a semifinal at the All England Club. The 39-year-old, who last played in a five-set loss to Brazilian Joao Fonseca at the French Open, told reporters he was better prepared for Wimbledon than he was at Roland Garros. “Playing on grass, comparing to clay, you don’t need to exert as much physical effort. So that’s better for me,” he added.“I always loved playing on grass. I have a very good score here, history, in Wimbledon. That gives me a higher dose of confidence coming into the tournament.”WIMBLEDON ORDER OF PLAY ON MONDAY: (prefix number denotes seeding)CENTRE COURT (Play begins at 2.30pm SA time)1-Jannik Sinner (Ita) v Miomir Kecmanovic (Serb)1-Aryna Sabalenka (Belrs) v Teodora Kostovic (Serb)Wu Yibing (Chi) v 7-Novak Djokovic (Serb)COURT NUMBER ONE (Play begins at 2pm)Antonia Ruzic (Cro) v 30-Emma Raducanu (UK)Marin Cilic (Cro) v 8-Daniil Medvedev (Rus)Magda Linette (Pol) v 5-Mirra Andreeva (Rus)COURT NUMBER TWO (Play begins at noon)4-Jessica Pegula (US) v Darja Vidmanova (Cze)Michael Zheng (US) v 26-Cameron Norrie (UK)3-Felix Auger-Aliassime (Can) v Aleksandr Shevchenko (Kaz)Tamara Korpatsch (Ger) v 7-Coco Gauff (US) Reuters