Daniil Medvedev makes Wimbledon request to Alexander Bublik - 'Please'

Daniil Medvedev hopes that his Halle Open conqueror, Alexander Bublik, is handed a nightmare draw at Wimbledon. Bublik has been surging up the world rankings with a string of impressive tournament results, making him a competitor other top players will desperately want to avoid at SW19 this summer.

Bublik won the ATP Challenger Torino in May and followed that up with a run to the quarter-finals of the French Open. The 28-year-old carried that momentum into his first Wimbledon warm-up last week, where he notched stunning wins over Jannik Sinner, Tomas Machac and Karen Khachanov before dispatching Medvedev in straight sets in Sunday's final.

Medvedev took the result on the chin and smiled in his post-match interview as he said: "First of all, big congratulations to you and your team. I hope you're in Carlos [Alcaraz's side of the] draw at Wimbledon. Please, Carlos or Jannik's side of the draw at Wimbledon!"

It may take one of the big guns to get rid of Bublik given his recent run of form. Seeded stars such as Alex de Minaur and Jack Draper could not live with him at Roland-Garros, where Sinner eventually toppled him with relative ease.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, looks set to arrive at Wimbledon on a red-hot run, having followed his French Open triumph with an impressive victory at the HSBC Championships.

Although Bublik is on a fine run of his own, Sinner remains at the top of the world rankings and Novak Djokovic can never be discounted at the All England Club, Alcaraz will be the man to beat after winning on each of his last two trips to south-west London.

With an intense battle on the horizon, Bublik took the chance to savour his Halle Open victory at the weekend - his first ATP Tour triumph since February last year.

"It's tough to speak, you know," he said. "I had such a tough few months from last Wimbledon until probably this summer. I was close to calling it quits after Wimbledon because I was not enjoying it any more.

"I promised my coach that I would stay, I would keep practicing and after Wimbledon we would make a decision on whether I needed a couple of months off before trying to come back. And, well, this is happening. I don't know. What a strange winner here. I have no words."