(credit: theguardian.com)
While the Ladies' Wimbledon Singles Final featured two players with little grand slam final experience, the Gentlemen's Wimbledon Singles Final features two players who have plenty of grand slam final experience. Roger Federer has 17 grand slam singles titles of his own and Novak Djokovic has 6. However, don't let their grand slam success fool you into thinking that neither man has something he wants to prove. Roger Federer wants to prove that he still has what it takes to be a grand slam champion in addition to adding on to his career grand slam total. As for Novak Djokovic, he wants to remind the tennis world that he still is a threat to win grand slam titles after not winning a grand slam since the 2013 Australian Open. Both men have compelling reasons to want the 2014 Wimbledon crown and yet only one will wear it. Which one will it be? Only time will tell for sure, but since I have to make a prediction, I will predict that Roger Federer comes out on top because he has played better over the course of this tournament, has an 18-16 career head-to-head record against Novak Djokovic, and he is playing on his preferred surface.
(credit: telegraph.co.uk)
During these past 2 weeks at Wimbledon, Roger Federer has only dropped 1 set and he easily mowed down the big serving Canadian Milos Raonic who was seeded 8th in the semifinals. The only set he dropped was against the 5th seed Stanislas Wawrinka and that was the opening set. After that, Federer found his groove and took out Stan in 4 sets. The rest of his tournament has been totally uneventful. He crushed the 23rd seed Tommy Robredo in the 4th round, he destroyed Santiago Giraldo in the 3rd round, and both of his 1st and 2nd round opponents were left in the dust.
As for Novak Djokovic, he hasn't had such an easy run. In his semifinal match, the 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov was a couple of points away from forcing a 5th set, and Marin Cilic took 2 out of the first 3 sets against him in his Quarterfinal match, which forced the match to go 5 sets. Similarly to the Dimitrov match, Radek Stepanek nearly forced a 5th set against Djokovic as well, falling in a 4th set tiebreak. The fact that Federer has had a much easier run to the final is a huge indicator that this is his tournament to lose.
Federer's 18-16 head-to-head record against Djokovic is another reason why I think Federer wins. Over the course of their meetings, Federer has gotten the better of Djokovic, and in their only encounter on grass, which was back in 2012 in the Wimbledon semifinals, Federer won pretty handily in 4 sets. As for their very recent encounters, Federer has won 2 out of their 3 matches this season with wins at Monte Carlo and Dubai on hard court.
The final reason why I really like Roger Federer to win on Sunday is because he is playing on his favorite surface, which is grass. If this were being played on hard court, I would have a hard time picking against Djokovic. But with Federer playing on his favorite surface and favorite court in the world (Wimbledon Centre Court), I think one has to say that Federer has to be the favorite going into this match.
This isn't to say that Novak Djokovic doesn't have a chance to win on Sunday or that it won't be close, but upon looking at the facts and the data, the odds are in Federer's favor. Very often times in tennis, the player who is favored doesn't come out on top. Especially in matches that feature two great champions like these ones. But for the time being, if I'm going to have to make a prediction, I'm going to say that Federer pulls this one out in 5 sets. It'll definitely be a great match to watch!
---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @atp_guy
