The last year in men's tennis has been strange but familiar. The backdrop of 2016 saw the end of Novak Djokovic's sheer dominance. While Federer and Nadal were both out with injuries Andy Murray filled in. Murray ended 2016 by winning the year end championship and taking the #1 spot from Djokovic.
But, then the calendar shifted to 2017 and everything changed. However, if you are a tennis fan the change happens to look a whole lot like men's tennis did before Djokovic's run. Like myself, I think a lot of tennis fans have been rooting for Federer to "win one more". This year in the opening slam of the year Federer finally won one more Grand Slam. He defeated his old nemesis Nadal. Looking back this was a major foreshadowing of a resurgent year that was to come.
An uninformed tennis fan might have frantically searched the French Open draw to locate Federer's name. After his triumphant run in Australia and a few dominant Masters 1000 victories Fed decided to skip the dirt. A field without the new and improved Federer made a 10th French Open all the more inevitable for the king of clay.
Next on the stop is Wimbledon. The question seems to be will Federer's clay court vacation translate to grass court success? Or will an inform Nadal catapult his confidence to win another back to back French/Wimbledon combo. No matter what it will be fun to watch.
I think Federer has the best chance to win Wimbledon, but he will not dominate it like Nadal dominated this year's French Open. I was glad Federer decided to skip French Open because had he met Nadal, he surely would have lost and Nadal can bring that confidence into Wimbledon. This is what happened in 2008 when Nadal decimated Federer in the French Open final. He brought that confidence and beat Federer in Wimbledon a month later in what is arguably the best tennis match of all time. By not having to play and lose to Nadal at the French Open this year, Federer has a good chance to beat Nadal should they meet at Wimbledon. Of course everything depends on the draw. Whose half will Djokovic and Murray end up with? In my opinion, Murray is the better player now. Then of course you will have to contend with the other seeds and upcoming young players like Sasha Zverev, Nick Kyrgios, and Dominic Thiem. And let us not forget about Stan Wawrinka (apparently the Vegas bookmakers had already forgotten about him as they put his odds to win Wimbledon at 25-to-1. He is only the #3 player in the world with 3 Grand Slam titles but he's 25-to-1 to win Wimbledon. Go figure (yes, I know, grass is his weakest surface and he has traditionally never done well at the All England Club - but still, 25-to-1 ???)
I can't wait until next Friday, June 30th to see the draw. There are dangerous floaters whose place in the draw will be critical: S. Zverev, Kyrgios, and Thiem. Dimitrov and Nishikori can get hot and make a deep run.
My top picks - including their odds to win as of the time of this writing - are:
It will be an interesting Wimbledon to watch this year !!!
I don't think nadal will win wimbeldon. He's definitelyvgonna be exhausted from winning the french open 2 weeks earlier.
Federer has a good chance if he can remain fit. All the other top ten players look out of sorts this year.
I know right. Djokovic is the most notable. Hopefully Agassi can help him get back in good form. Wawrinka always stays under the radar, but he always shows up to win in the majors.
Wawrinka must be exhausted from the french open as well so i don'tbknow if he can go all the way.
The french players like monfils and tsonga have underperformed maybe they'll shine for once.
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