Wimbledon Men's Preview: 3 things you need to know
We’ve come to the end of a longer-than-usual (but still exceedingly brief) grass-court season, the groomed, sparkling green, not-yet-muddied lawns of the All England Club beckon, and the world's oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament is about to begin.
So put on your tennis whites and getcha popcorn (er, strawberries and cream) ready. Here are three things you need to know about Wimbledon.
Related: Wimbledon Women's Preview: 3 things you need to know
Will Novak Djokovic bounce back?
The World No. 1 hasn't played a match since a shocker of a French Open final saw his quest for a career Grand Slam derailed by King Stannis Wawrinka, opting to rest his body rather than try get it acclimated to the new surface with a grass-court tuneup. Now here he is, set to defend his 2014 title, facing a tricky draw, and trying to put that bitter defeat - in a tournament he seemed destined to finally win - behind him. How will he respond?
Quite well, we'd wager. Djokovic didn’t lose that match so much as Wawrinka won it, and it’s easier to digest a loss in which your opponent has gone to otherworldly places than one in which you’ve let yourself down. The only real takeaway was that if one plays virtually flawless tennis, Djokovic can, conceivably, be beaten.
People used to associate him with fragility; tough defeats or missed opportunities used to gnaw at him to the point of self-destruction, both mental and physical. These days, though, mental fortitude is one of his calling cards. That loss will continue to sting until Roland Garros 2016, but make no mistake: the defending champ is still the man to beat at the All England Club.
That said ...
Sleepers abound
Wawrinka’s win was important not just for its expectation-busting heft, but for the reminder it offered that regardless of pre-tournament form, anyone who’s got the goods can get hot at the right time and deliver (chin up, Grigor Dimitrov). Wawrinka was mired in his worst slump in years in the four months between the Aussie Open and the French.
And these things can have a trickle-down effect, sending a surge of belief swelling through the ranks of upstarts and dreamers, who might otherwise have felt only despair when staring across the net at Djokovic, or Roger Federer, or Andy Murray.
Tomas Berdych, a 2010 finalist, is a guy who could make some serious noise here; he’s quietly put together a very solid season, despite disappointing performances in big matches. Kei Nishikori always seems to be right on the cusp, and while his results have never really borne this out, there’s no reason his game shouldn’t translate to the grass.
Heavy servers are ever-dangerous at this tournament, and though it may be a reach to expect anything big out of a post-foot surgery Milos Raonic or ailing-shouldered Marin Cilic, big guns both young (Nick Kyrgios) and old (Ivo Karlovic) demand to be taken seriously.
And then, of course, there’s Wawrinka himself. He's never been much of a grass-courter (no more than he was a clay-courter, anyway), but his best - insane as this may sound - may actually be better than anyone else’s.
Federer gets another crack at No. 18
It’s been a year since a single tear mourned Federer’s best chance to date at his 18th major title, and three years since he won No. 17. His recent Slam results suggest he may no longer be capable of winning seven matches in the best-of-five format.
He came out completely flat in last year’s U.S. Open semi, crashed out of this year’s Australian Open in the third round - to a guy he’d beaten 11 out of 11 times - and got destroyed in the French Open quarters. As good as he’s been at smaller tournaments the past two seasons, he’s played in the finals of just two of the last 16 Slams.
Of course, both of those finals came at the All England Club. Though he doesn’t move quite as gracefully on grass as he once did, he’s still as comfortable on the surface as anyone on tour, and his touch and net game remain the best in the business. He’s coming off a tuneup victory (his eighth!) in Halle. And the additional week added to the schedule between the French Open and Wimbledon this year has been a welcome respite for the 33-year-old.
"It's changed everything, to be honest," Federer said. "You might think that a week is not a lot, but a week is so much for us players. ... I could rest and relax and then really train and prepare properly for a change for a good grass-court season."
Few players will benefit from the added rest as much as Federer, and he'll be in the mix once again. But he'll have to summon some of his old magic in the latter stages of the tournament to get over the hump and lift his record eighth Wimbledon trophy.
He's running out of time.