With Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev missing at Wimbledon, we should see Novak Djokovic win his fourth consecutive title at The Championships – but there’s a genuine long shot who could be at the other side of the net in the Final.
Champion
Djokovic’s record at Wimbledon is simply incredible in an era where he has been competing with perhaps the greatest grass court player of all-time in Roger Feder. The Serbian has won Wimbledon six times including the last three Championships, and receives a friendly draw due to some big omissions.
Obviously there won’t be Roger Federer competing again, but Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev’s absence puts Djokovic in prime position with a relatively weak first week at Wimbledon. Likely to face Carlos Alcaraz in the quarters who is unproven on grass, but it’s hard to see anyone in this field stopping Novak on his way to Grand Slam 21.
Runner Up
The second half of the draw is a bit of a raffle, especially with question marks still surrounding the fitness of Rafael Nadal, which makes the $91 on offer for Taylor Fritz outrageous.
The American is having a breakout 2022 with a 24-10 record, starting the year as the 23rd ranked player in the world moving into 14th. Plays in the final at Eastbourne tonight – a tournament he won back in 2019 emphasising there’s grass court form there across his career.
Has winning career records against Matteo Berrettini, Felix Auger Aliassime, and is one-apiece with Nadal being one of three players to beat him in 2022. Huge watch.
Semi Finalists
Semi Finalist at Wimbledon last year taking a set off Djokovic, Hurkacz enters this year’s tournament inside the top-ten and a victory at Halle in the lead-up where he took some scalps in Daniil Medvedev, Nick Kyrgios and Felix Auger Aliassime.
An extremely tricky opening round against the serve-volley game of American Maxime Cressy, but if he can get past him the second quarter opens up nicely for him in what is clearly the weakest quarter of the draw.
Finalist last year, Matteo Berrettini has the game for the grass courts and has come back from injury with victories at Stuttgart and Queens.
My only concern surrounding the Italian is his three-month absence from injury prior to returning in Stuttgart a few weeks back, and although he’s 9-0 on the grass none of his wins have been against top-20 quality.
Roughies
We’ve seen Hurkacz fail early in majors unexpectedly in the past, and if he were to lose to Cressy in the opening round the second quarter of the draw becomes a lottery. Clearly the weakest quarter of the draw, and we could see someone like Grigor Dimitrov work his way through to a Semi Final. The Bulgarian was a Semi Finalist of The Championships in 2014, and is having a reasonable year ranked 21 in the world.
He couldn’t possibly, could he? It’s well publicised that the grass is Kyrgios’ favourite surface, and he gets a favourable look against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third-round.
Kyrgios has a 3-0 career record against the Greek, who has been eliminated in the first round at Wimbledon is his last two appearances.
If Nick can extend his stranglehold on Tsitsipas, we could see him advance to the quarters to face Matteo Berrettini. Anything is possible.