Are the Wimbledon titles more up for grabs than ev...

WIMBLEDON, England -- With the notable exception of Rafael Nadal winning the French Open almost every year, Wimbledon used to be one of the most predictable tournaments in the calendar, a time when you could pick the likely title winners on the fingers of one hand. Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and Serena and Venus Williams all dominated proceedings. But after two rounds, this year's event has a distinctly different feel. All of the big names have an air of vulnerability, brought on by shock losses, a dip in form, the performances of others or even the hotter-than-normal conditions. And some are already gone, including men's No. 4 seed Ben Shelton and women's No. 8 Elina Svitolina. The heat of the first week at Roland Garros contributed to the carnage that ripped through the men's and women's draws there, and with temperatures in London predicted to be in the high-80s plus in the second week, weather could be a factor again. That could spell bad news for Jannik Sinner, whose capitulation in the heat in Paris, where he let slip a two-sets-to-love and 5-1 lead to lose in the second round to Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina, has added a layer of doubt against the defending champion -- even if he was odds-on favorite with the bookmakers leading into the event. Sinner underwent various tests after the match to determine the reason he started to wilt and cramp. The tests proved inconclusive, but his opponents now know that if it's hot, then maybe they have a chance. He didn't play on grass before Wimbledon this year and struggled through his opening match in five sets. He won his second round in straight sets -- but it was not easy. But the Italian player seems unconcerned about form or health. "You come here trying to do your best," he said. "At the same time, if you play a tournament before here, maybe it's not going the way you would like to, you come here with some doubts. If you don't play any tournament, you don't have these doubts, you just go and play. "Last year, I lost [in the] second round in Halle. I came here and I played very well. Every year is different. I try to have as much confidence as possible in my shots and in my abilities. First rounds, they're always going to be very tough. I know that mentally." With Carlos Alcaraz out because of injury and French Open champion Alexander Zverev never having gone past the last 16 at Wimbledon, many eyes are on Djokovic, who is eyeing a men's record-equaling eighth title. But Djokovic is 39, has played only four tournaments all year and is coming off a third-round exit at Roland Garros where he played well but was beaten by Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca. Djokovic had to battle hard to get past Wu Yibing in the first round, but stepped it up in the second round with an easy win over Stefanos Tsitsipas. In his pre-tournament news conference, Djokovic said it had always been his intention to peak at Wimbledon. If he's going to win a record 25th Grand Slam title, then grass, where he moves better than almost everyone, would seem to be his best chance. On the women's side, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka readily acknowledged it took her some time to get over her own shock loss in Paris, when she led Diana Shnaider by a set and 4-1, 30-0 in the quarterfinals, only to lose 12 of the next 13 games and exit. Sabalenka went back to her former psychologist for help after the French Open. At Wimbledon, she has not been dominating opponents quite the same way she was last year, needing to save four set points in the second set of her second-round win over McCartney Kessler. Throw in the fact that she is still trying to reach her first Wimbledon final, and the pressure is mounting. Doubts might also be swirling around the head of Iga Swiatek, the defending champion, who also lost early in Paris, falling to Marta Kostyuk in the fourth round. Swiatek has been wildly inconsistent this year, but she knows what she needs to do. "For me, the balance is basically between my decisions, because last months, most of matches that I lost I was playing too fast and too risky," she said after her second-round win over Karolina Pliskova, a big improvement on her shaky three-set win over Taylor Townsend in the first round. "I feel like it's more about me than the surface or the conditions." Coco Gauff lost in the third round in Paris, lost her only grass-court warmup in Berlin and continues to have issues with her serve and forehand. But she showed her fighting qualities yet again as she scraped past Solana Sierra in the second round. When the big names are struggling, or showing vulnerability, the chasing pack of players usually feels that this could be their chance. But Madison Keys, who won her first slam title at the Australian Open last year, said Thursday that she doesn't feel as if there's a bigger chance than any other year. "There have been tournaments and draws where you feel like they kind of open up, and you have a huge opportunity, and then you end up losing," she said. "Then I think about winning in Australia, and it was one of the toughest draws I have ever had to play, and that was the one that I happened to win. "I think it really just depends how you're playing. And I think sometimes we forget that when the draw 'opens up,' we're forgetting that it's because other people are playing really well and taking the higher-ranked person out. So it doesn't necessarily mean that someone is playing badly and all of a sudden it's an easy draw. "I think the depth of the sport has just gotten so vast that every single draw feels incredibly tough."