By Mike McIntyre
A year ago at Wimbledon Novak Djokovic signaled to the tennis world that he was back in-form by capturing his first Grand Slam in over two years at the All England Club. Now he returns not only as defending champion but also as the current US Open and Australian Open champ and the World No. 1 once again. Djokovic's path towards a fifth Wimbledon title won't be easy so let's take a closer look at who he might face and other contenders at SW19 in 2019.
The Serbian defending champ starts his campaign against tricky German Philipp Kohlschreiber who is tough on any surface but in particular on grass. The pair will face one another for the fourth time this year already with Djokovic capturing the last two meetings after Kohlschreiber got the 6-4, 6-4 win in Indian Wells. These two players met once before at Wimbledon with Djokovic prevailing in the first round back in 2015 by a score of 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. This will be Kohlschreiber's 15th appearance at Wimbledon and he made the quarterfinals in 2012, his best ever showing at a major. Djokovic has fellow Serbian Dusan Lajovic, the 32nd seed, as a potential third round opponent before what would be an interesting encounter in the fourth round against rising Canadian talent Felix Auger Aliassime who is seeded 19th in just the second Grand Slam of his young career.
Auger Aliassime had never before played a professional tournament on grass until a couple of week's ago in Stuttgart where he made the finals. Then last week the 18 year old phenom defeated Grigor Dimitrov, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to the semifinals in Queen's. Best of five sets will be something relatively new to Auger Aliassime but he has been in great form in the lead-up to Wimbledon.
Other tricky players in the top quarter include the aforementioned Tsitsipas - who has still been unable to beat Auger Aliassime in their pro careers. Daniil Medvedev is also present as the 11th seed along with veteran Gael Monfils who is seeded No. 16 and David Goffin - finalist in Halle - at No. 21.
Moving down the draw we have another Canadian to look out for - 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic. It has been another up and down year for Raonic due to injury issues but if he can manage to stay healthy he is an automatic top-5 threat on the grass. He'll open against Prajnesh Gunneswaran and could meet Stan Wawrinka in the third round. The pair have never played each other on grass and Wawrinka needs only a Wimbledon championship to complete his career Slam.
This quadrant of the draw also has last year's finalist, Kevin Anderson who comes in as the No. 4 seed this time around. Recently returning from an elbow injury that kept him off the ATP Tour for almost three months, Anderson has played in but one recent event where he fell in the second round to Gilles Simon at Queen's. The Wimbledon fifth set has been altered starting this year in part due to Anderson's lengthy semifinal match last year against John Isner where the South African prevailed 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 26-24. From now only there will be a tiebreak played once 12-12 is reached in the fifth and final set.
Other players of note in this section include the struggling 6th seed Sascha Zverev, Russia's Karen Khachanov seeded 10th and recent Queen's singles and doubles champ - Feliciano Lopez.
In the bottom half of the draw we find a potential Nadal vs Federer semifinal that would have tennis fans lose their collective minds. It's hard to believe that the duo last met at Wimbledon all the way back in their legendary final in 2008 where Nadal prevailed 9-7 in the fifth set to capture his first ever title there. The path towards the semis will not be easy for Nadal who opens against Japanese qualifier Yuichi Sugita but could face Nick Kyrgios in the second round and potentially Denis Shapovalov in the third round. 2017 Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic could be a fourth round opponent while Dominic Thiem is the 5th seed and also in this section for a potential quarterfinal matchup. It would take quite the effort for Nadal to advance deep in the draw with that grueling list of opponents in front of him but with the Spaniard nothing can ever be considered a surprise given his unparalleled compete level and love for this tournament.
In the final quarter of the draw we have of course the 8 time champion Roger Federer. The World No. 3 is seeded 2nd due to Wimbledon's unique seeding formula - a process that has upset some who feel it unjustly bumps Nadal down a spot. Regardless of where you stand on that particular issue, Federer will open against South Africa's Lloyd Harris who is ranked No. 87 on the ATP Tour. Harris is going to have his hands full as he recently fell in the opening round of qualifying in both Halle and Eastbourne. Federer has a nice draw to settle into the tournament and shouldn't be overly challenged until a potential fourth round match against Borna Coric - someone who has a grass court win against him going back to last summer in the finals at Halle.
Beyond that point Kei Nishikori is the 8th seed and recent grass court star Matteo Berrettini is also floating around as the 17th seed in this bottom quarter. Tomas Berdych and Richard Gasquet are two veteran players with grass court skills who are unseeded and could make some noise as well.
Ultimately this event seems the most likely of all four Slams to have the big names continue their dominance. Going back to 2002 the only four players who have emerged victorious at Wimbledon are Federer (8), Djokovic (4), Nadal (2) and Murray (2). It would take a pretty big upset for that trend to change in 2019. While Murray is just making his return to the court in doubles, the other three have been their usual dominant selves leading the ATP in winning percentage through the first half of the season. Enjoy it while it lasts and check back with us later in the tournament for more Grand Slam coverage!
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