In the middle of June, many sports fans have begun to hit a bit of a brick wall. The sudden lull in the sports world comes from the conclusion of both the basketball and hockey seasons and the complete absence of any football-related news. Really, the only thing going on is baseball, and it’s safe to say that the majority of America’s sports fans couldn’t care less about a Yankees-Mets game on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Puzzled about what to do with themselves, some avid sports-watchers may have wound up flipping through the TV channels last night and landing on NBC Sports, one of the only channels playing the final match of the French Open.
Yes––the French Open. Tennis. Truly the most underrated sport in the entire sports world. I bet you didn’t know this: Last night, Rafael Nadal defeated Dominic Thiem to win his 11th French Open and stay undefeated in the French Open final. I bet that, when scrolling through Instagram or Facebook last night, you saw more posts about LeBron “3-6 in the NBA Finals” James than you did about Nadal, one of the world’s best tennis players.
Regardless of the lack of respect tennis gets, people will soon have something else to flip to on TV because the end of the French Open means the beginning of Wimbledon season––the time leading up to the oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam tournament. And with Wimbledon season comes the equally underrated storylines, like whether or not Roger Federer will break his own Grand Slam and Wimbledon wins records by nabbing his ninth Wimbledon trophy and 21st Grand Slam crown, or if Serena Williams can stage a Grand comeback––after dropping out of this year’s French Open with an injury––by winning her eighth Wimbledon.
Wimbledon is one of four Grand Slam tournaments and is split up into five main events: Gentlemen’s Singles, Ladies’ Singles, Gentlemen’s Doubles, Ladies’ Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. For the sake of time, I will only preview the most popular events and will do so in a two-part series: Gentlemen’s Singles and Ladies’ Singles.
Starting with the men, there aren’t many surprises for July’s tournament. Federer is sitting pretty in Vegas at 17/10 odds and as the heavy favorite. Roger Federer is widely regarded as the best men’s tennis player of his generation, one of the top athletes in the world, and one of the greatest individual competitors of all-time. His 20 Grand Slam titles are the most of any man in history, and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down much. Federer’s game is best suited for the grass courts of Wimbledon, he’s well rested since he hasn’t played in a major tournament since January, and he’s got history on his side.
Everything is pointing in the right direction for Federer, but his competition could be a bit worrisome. Tennis is an interesting sport because, depending on the surface of the court, even the biggest names could fall out of contention early. For example, Rafael Nadal is coming off a French Open win where he played on a clay surface, but he’s historically struggled on grass surfaces and may not even play in Wimbledon. Another big name, Novak Djokovic, has been struggling as of late and even announced––after losing in the French Open––that he “[doesn’t] know if [he’s] going to play on grass” (The Telegraph). Even Andy Murray, probably the second-best grass player behind Federer, is only borderline healthy and questioning a Wimbledon appearance while recovering from a hip surgery.
So, who’s left? Well, to be frank, a bunch of underdogs: There’s Marin Cilic, Alexander Zverev, Gilles Muller, and Grigor Dimitrov. Between them, there’s a combined one Grand Slam victory, which came from Cilic at the 2014 U.S. Open (the first since 2005 that the event featured none of Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic). It would be a true underdog story from any one of these guys, so at this point, it looks like Federer’s clear path to a ninth Wimbledon trophy could only be clouded by one of Murray, Djokovic, or Nadal, all of whom are questionable to even participate in the tournament.
(Statistics via ATP Tour and betting odds via oddschecker.com)
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