Roger Federer was the defending champion and top seed. Federer and
Rafael Nadal were in contention for the
ATP No. 1 ranking at the start of the tournament. Former champion and local favourite
Andy Murray announced on the day before the tournament began that he was pulling out because he was not fully recovered from
hip surgery. His place was taken by "
lucky loser"
Jason Jung. 2017 finalist and no. 3 seed
Marin Čilić went out in the second round of the tournament, defeated by
Guido Pella of Argentina. Čilić had been two sets up when rain stopped play, but had difficulty coping with the conditions after play was resumed, and complained to the umpire about the state of the grass. The following morning, when they returned to continue the match, Pella won in five sets.
Feliciano López made his 66th consecutive Grand Slam main draw appearance, surpassing
the previous record of 65 consecutive appearances he jointly held with Federer. López was defeated in the second round by no 5 seed
Juan Martín del Potro.. This was the last Wimbledon appearance for former No. 3 and US Open champion
Juan Martín del Potro. Nadal retained his top ranking by reaching the semifinal. Federer lost in the quarterfinals to
Kevin Anderson despite leading by two sets to love and having a match point in the third set. The semifinal match between Anderson and
John Isner, lasting 6 hours 36 minutes, was
the second longest men's singles match at Wimbledon and the third longest men's singles match in tennis history. Isner has thus played in the two longest matches in Wimbledon history (the other one being the record-holding
2010 match against Nicolas Mahut). The 2018 semifinals were the longest two semifinals in Wimbledon history. Anderson became the first man representing South Africa to reach the Wimbledon men's singles final since
Brian Norton in
1921 (South African-born
Kevin Curren represented the United States when he was a finalist in
1985). Anderson held a total of five set points in the third set of the championship match, but was unable to force a fourth set. ==Seeds==