NOVAK DJOKOVIC A HEAVY FAVORITE AT WIMBLEDON 2016, FOLLOWED BY ANDY MURRAY & ROGER FEDERER BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 25th June 2016

NOVAK DJOKOVIC A HEAVY FAVORITE AT WIMBLEDON 2016, FOLLOWED BY ANDY MURRAY & ROGER FEDERER BY RICKY DIMON

epa05387819 Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns a ball to Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland during a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Friday, June 24, 2016. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2016 will be held in London from 27 June to 10 July. EPA/PETER KLAUNZER EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES/NO ARCHIVES |

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, the two French Open finalists, are even bigger favorites at Wimbledon. It’s easy to see why. Djokovic has won four consecutive majors dating back to last year’s festivities at the All-England Club, and Murray has finished runner-up at each of the two majors in 2016. Rafael Nadal is out of this tournament with a wrist injury and Roger Federer has been struggling with a back problem. Could Milos Raonic and Nick Kyrgios be the top threats to Djokovic and Murray?

Top 5 title favorites

Novak Djokovic: 2 to 3

Djokovic already holds all four major titles after winning Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last season and the Australian Open and French Open earlier this year. Now he’s going for the calendar-year slam and there is no reason to dislike his chances of bagging leg three of the four. The top-ranked Serb is 44-3 in 2016 and one of his three losses has come by retirement. Basically, Djokovic has been unbeatable. Although grass is not necessarily his best surface, he is the two-time defending Wimbledon champion and he has three titles from this tournament overall (also in 2011).

Andy Murray: 7 to 2

Murray reached the Roland Garros final and took the first set off Djokovic before settling for a runner-up plate. Can he go one step father at the All-England Club? He’s done it before, of course. In fact, not only did the Scot triumph at Wimbledon in 2013, but he also captured Olympic gold on the same court at the 2014 London games. Additional good news for Murray is that he is on the opposite side of the draw from Djokovic, obviously, as the No. 2 seed. With coach Ivan Lendl back in the box, the two-time slam champion kicked off his grass-court preparation by beating Milos Raonic in a three-set final at Queen’s Club.

Britain’s Andy Murray in action during a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, 22 June 2016. The Wimbledon Grand Slam Tennis Championships 2016 will be held in London from 27 June to 10 July. EPA/PETER KLAUNZER

Roger Federer: 12 to 1

The bad news for Federer is that he has not won a slam since 2012. The good news is his 2012 success did come at Wimbledon, where has lifted the trophy seven times. He also came within one win of titles in both 2014 and 2015, only to be denied by Djokovic each time. Federer has been plagued by physical problems at 34 years old, so he cannot be heading to London with a ton of confidence (lost in the Stuttgart semifinals to Dominic Thiem and in the Halle semis to Alexander Zverev). But the Swiss cannot meet Djokovic or Murray until at least the semis and he may have heated up by then with a handful of matches under his belt.

Milos Raonic: 14 to 1

For several seasons now, Raonic has been looked upon as a potential slam winner in the future. Now 25 years old, he should be ready to answer the hype–and no place gives him the chance to do so like grass. The world No. 7 wields a massive serve, hits extremely flat, and despises extended baseline rallies, so Wimbledon in all likelihood will always be his best Grand Slam. A less-than-100 percent Raonic lost to Kyrgios in the third round last year, but he made a semifinal run in 2014. When healthy, Raonic has been awesome this season and more of the same continued at Queen’s Club–until he led Murray by a set and 3-0 in the second.

Nick Kyrgios: 22 to 1

Relatively speaking, Kyrgios has stayed controversy-free at Wimbledon (for the most part) while letting his grass-court game do the talking. The Australian stunned Rafael Nadal en route to the 2014 quarters (lost to Raonic) and advanced to the fourth round last year (fell to Richard Gasquet in a four-set thriller). In his only warmup match of this grass-court swing, Kyrgios had to face Raonic in round one at Queen’s Club and the Canadian prevailed in three sets. As such, the world No. 18 may be flying just a bit under the radar–but it would not be wise to discount him.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Andy Murray, Grass tennis, milos raonic, Nick Kyrgios, Novak Djokovic, Ricky Dimon, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis News, Wimbledon 2016

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June 25, 2016 at 4:53 pm

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