2013 Wimbledon Championships
Gentleman’s Singles
Monday, June 24-Sunday, July 7, 2013
All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club – Wimbledon, England
Playing Surface: Grass
Defending Champion: Roger Federer
All odds courtesy of Bookmaker

Wimbledon is always highly anticipated because of the tradition at the All-England Club. From the grass courts, strawberries and cream, all white tennis outfits and the history of Centre Court, Wimbledon is the grand slam event with the most pageantry. As is always the case, only four men have a realistic shot of winning Wimbledon. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are miles ahead of the rest of the field. Since 2004, Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic have combined to win 36 of 38 majors, including the Australian Open (Djokovic) and French Open (Nadal) earlier this year. Murray won the US Open last year and Federer is the defending champion here at Wimbledon. So that means the four each hold one of the grand slam titles. Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic have all won here and Murray won the gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics held at the All-England Club.

Here is a look at the four and some other contenders with odds courtesy of Bookmaker.

Novak Djokovic (+115)

Djokovic is 26 from Serbia. He is 33-5 this season with titles at the Australian Open, Dubai and Monte Carlo. He beat Nadal in the final at Monte Carlo and Murray in the Aussie Open Final. He lost a heartbreaking 5 setter to Nadal in the semifinals of the French, losing 9-7 in the fifth set despite leading 2-0. He has not played since Roland Garros.

Djokovic has 6 major titles including one Wimbledon title in 2011. He has made it to at least the semifinals of the last 12 majors.

There was some controversy because Djokovic’s half of the draw is much easier as Murray, Nadal, and Federer are all on the other side of the draw along with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Seeded players in his section include #28 Jeremy Chardy, #19 Gilles Simon, #13 Tommy Haas, #9 Richard Gasquet, #21 Sam Querrey, #27 Kevin Anderson, and #7 Tomas Berdych. He could face #4 David Ferrer or #8 Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals. He should make it to the finals rather easily to face the survivor of the other half of the draw. I like Djokovic to win his second title but the grass makes this the most unpredictable of the four grand slams.

Andy Murray (+345)

Murray is 26 from Scotland. He is 27-5 this season with titles at Brisbane, Miami, and last week at Queen’s Club in London on grass. He missed the French with a lower back injury.

Murray has made it to at least the semifinals the last 4 times at Wimbledon, including losing to Federer in the final last year. Murray would beat Federer in the gold medal match of the Olympics. No British man has won Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, a streak Murray would love to break.

Seeded players in #2 seed Murray’s section include #32 Tommy Robredo, #20 Mikhail Youzhny, #14 Janko Tipseravic, #10 Marin Cilic, #22 Juan Monaco, #31 Julien Benneteau, and #6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He could be challenged by Tipseravic, Cilic or certainly Tsonga.   If he survives his section, he will likely face either Nadal or Federer in the semis.

Rafael Nadal (+485)

Nadal missed the last half of 2012 after his second round exit at Wimbledon including the Olympics the Olympics, and the U.S. Open with a knee injury. He also missed the Australian Open in January as he recovered from a stomach virus. He is 43-2 this season with 7 titles at the French Open, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Indian Wells, Acapulco, and Sao Paulo. All were on clay except Indian Wells. His only 2 losses this season came in the finals at Monte Carlo and Vina del Mar both on clay.

Nadal, 27 from Spain, became the first man to win a grand slam title 8 times when we won at Roland Garros earlier this month. He has 2 wins at Wimbledon in 2008 and 2010 and 3 runner-ups.

Despite winning the French Open, Nadal dropped a spot to #5 in the rankings to his opponent David Ferrer despite beating Ferrer in straight sets in the Final. That caused the problem as Wimbledon seeds by the ATP rankings. Other seeded players in his section include #25 Benoit Paire, #18 John Isner, #11 Stanislas Wawrinka, #15 Nicolas Almagro, #24 Jerzy Janowicz, #30 Fabio Fognini, and #3 Federer. Federer and Nadal should meet in the quarters, and they have had some classic battles in the past.

Roger Federer (+845)

Federer, 31 from Switzerland is 26-7 this season. He won his first title of the year at Halle on grass last week and lost to Nadal in the final at Rome. Federer lost to Andy Murray in the semifinals at the Australian open this season, and was upset by Tsonga in the French Open quarters.

Federer has 17 major titles, including seven titles at Wimbledon.  He beat Murray in the Championship here last year.

Federer is the #3 seed at Wimbledon, but is in the same section as Nadal. Whomever survives that section will likely face Murray or Tsonga in the semis.

Other contenders include #4 Ferrer (+5250), #6 Tsonga (+3050), #7 Berdych (+6050), and #8 del Potro (+4050). It is unlikely even those four can topple the quartet at the top, but the field is +645.

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