Wimbledon 2014 Gentlemen’s Singles: It's a four-way battle
It is that time of the year when men in white grace the lawns of the All England Lawn Tennis Club to battle it out for the Wimbledon Championships- which unlike the other three Grand Slams refers to its male participants as gentlemen. Till date, it is called the gentlemen’s singles championship and not men’s singles championship. Yes, the most coveted championships of the tennis season have begun but the story is a bit different this time around. The enthusiasm of the fans has mellowed down a bit thanks to the FIFA World Cup. Unlike previous years, the title contender are very few. Among them, one man clearly stands out as the title favourite. He is Novak Djokovic, who is undoubtedly the best player in the world at the moment. Though ranked second in the world ,he has the game to challenge the likes of Rafael Nadal & Roger Federer. The Serb’s game has seen a transition since his Australian Open defeat at the hands of Stanislas Wawrinka thanks to coach Boris Becker. He hits the ball much harder with the same consistency and serves bigger as well. He was touted to win the French Open only to be denied by ‘King of clay’ Nadal.
Federer is coming to Wimbledon after clinching the title in Halle. He is confident of winning his 8th title here and go past Pete Sampras’ record. One can never write off the Swiss, especially on his favorite surface.
Murray is the defending champion & he carries the expectations of the entire nation on his shoulders. He ended 77-year wait for a British champion at Wimbledon by beating Djokovic in the finals last year. He also had a good run at the French Open where he lost in the semifinals to Nadal. He did lose to Radek Stepanek at the Queen’s club, but that is only a minor hiccup.
Nadal is seeded No.2 as Wimbledon have their own calculations to decide seeding. He has not gone past the second round in the last two years. He is coming off a loss to Dustin Brown at Halle. The Spaniard improves as the tournament progresses and the other players will definitely be aware of that.
There are plenty of players who could pose serious threats for the top 4 during the second week. Grigor Dimitrov a.k.a. ‘Baby Federer’ is one of them . He won the Queen’s club tournament and is looking to win his first Grand Slam. Feliciano Lopez, Roberto Bautista-Agut and Kei Nishikori could also play spoilsport. The last time a player seeded outside of the Top 4 won Wimbledon was in 2001 when No. 125th-ranked Goran Ivanisevic took advantage of a wild card opportunity to defeat Patrick Rafter in a five-set Monday final.