Day 5 Preview: Alcaraz Continues Grass-Court Education | ATP Tour

As the Wimbledon third round commences on Friday, seeded players begin to square off for the first time at The Championships. Three such matches are on the Day 5 docket, with Carlos Alcaraz meeting Oscar Otte, Novak Djokovic facing fellow Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic and Jannik Sinner taking on John Isner.

Ninth seed Cameron Norrie will close the day’s play on Centre Court against American Steve Johnson following Djokovic’s match.

In doubles action, third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski join sixth-seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah as the day’s headliners.

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[5] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs. Oscar Otte (GER)

Alcaraz’s wait for his Centre Court debut continues, with this matchup slated for No. 1 Court, but the Spaniard’s bid to extend his best Wimbledon run is firmly in his own hands. The 19-year-old will look to control the proceedings against Otte with his all-action style as he continues to adapt his game to the grass.

“Playing on grass is so beautiful for me,” Alcaraz said after his straight-sets win over Tallon Griekspoor on Wednesday. “I like to play on grass and I enjoy playing here at Wimbledon.”

The fifth seed overturned a two-sets-to-one deficit in a tense first-round battle with Jan-Lennard Struff — his first grass-court match of the season — and looked more assured with his movement in his second outing.

“I felt more comfortable today than the first round,” he said. “But obviously, I need more hours on court, on grass, to feel more comfortable.”

So far he has spent over six hours on the London lawns, including his four-hour, 11-minute opener. By contrast, Otte has spent just one hour, 33 miniutes on court this fortnight. After racing past countryman Peter Gojowczyk with the loss of just four games, he moved past Christian Harrison after the American retired 15 minutes into their second-round match.

But the German has had plenty of practise on the grass this month, reaching the semi-finals at both Stuttgart and Halle. In those semi-finals, he…