The 2016 tennis season is upon us, which means it is to make predictions for the year’s four Grand Slams. One, the Australian Open, begins in just two weeks—with Novak Djokovic as the obvious favorite.
Australian Open – Novak Djokovic. Djokovic has won this event five times, including four of the last five installments. His only blemish during this stretch is a 9-7 in the fifth set loss to Stan Wawrinka in the 2014 quarterfinals. Not including one retirement, Djokovic has not lost prior to a fifth set Down Under since 2007. Based on the world No. 1’s dominant 2015 campaign, there is no reason to think anything will change at the season’s first major this time around. He won his last five tournaments of the previous year, going 25-1 overall in the process. A one-month “offseason” will not stop Djokovic’s momentum.
Runner-up (if on opposite side) – Andy Murray
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French Open – Rafael Nadal. The shocking part of Nadal’s failure to win at Roland Garros this past season was that it wasn’t shocking. Nadal struggled just about from start to finish throughout 2015—even on his beloved clay. But another setback in Paris, if the Spaniard is 100 percent healthy when the tournament rolls around, would be far more surprising and alarming. Nadal raised his level in the fall, especially at the World Tour Finals, so there is some reason for optimism in 2016. Also, the last time two consecutive French Opens were won by players other than Nadal was 2003 and 2004—when he was 17 and 18 and did not participate!
Runner-up (if on opposite side) – Novak Djokovic
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Wimbledon – Andy Murray. Will a Davis Cup title the preceding year do for Murray what it did for Djokovic in 2011? Maybe not entirely, but it can only help the Scot’s confidence and inspiration for more success. While other top players may be more focused on the Rio Olympics this summer, Murray’s eyes should be on another Wimbledon prize. After all, that is basically the world No. 2’s home tournament and he already has a gold medal in his back pocket (at the All-England Club, coincidentally, in 2012). Djokovic’s back-to-back Wimbledon triumphs notwithstanding, Murray has a better chance against him on grass than on hard courts.
Runner-up (if on opposite side) – Roger Federer
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U.S. Open – Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is going to win multiple slams again in 2016. How could he not? The question is which ones. Backing him to win three, just as he did last year, may be the overriding trend. Heck, more than few folks in the tennis world are probably expecting a calendar-year Grand Slam. That is unlikely, but it is not hard to see Djokovic maintaining relative dominance—especially on hards. He lost a total of six sets at the two hard-court majors in 2015, three at each event. The Serb has triumphed at the U.S. Open twice in his career, both within the last five years, and he has been to the final on four of the last five occasions.
Runner-up (if on opposite side) – Rafael Nadal
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who ya got?
Nole and Stanimal 2 each. Hoping for a young player but not expecting it.
nope
#DjokoSlam
#DjouYou?
Oooh forgot to pick my opponents/potential spoilers to Nole’s #DjokoGoldenSlam…
AO: Djoko over Fed
FO: Rafa over Djoko
W: Djoko over Fed
US: Djoko over Fed
Olympics: Fed over Djoko
#InconsistenciesByDesign
#DoingTheBasesCoverings
Full Disclosure and Disclaimer: I will not be personally attending and witnessing ANY of these matches.
Lol
Nadal will turn 30 at Roland Garros. Andres Gomez was the last man to win it that old before Stan. The French is a young(ish) man’s slam. Nishikori beats Djokovic in the final.
Nishikori???????
#NishiSlam
different era. It’s an old man’s game now.
What I want:
Djokovic over Fed at AO (don’t really want this but I have to be somewhat realistic I guess)
Rafa over Nole at FO
Fed over Nole at Wimbledon
Stan over Nole at USO
What will probably happen:
Nole wins two slams
Stan wins one
Roger or Rafa will win the remaining slam
No outsiders win slams this year (but I would happy if one did)
Now I will say that I do think what I want to happen could happen but at the same time I see Novak winning two slams this season. Also at Olympics I see a Roger vs Novak final but I don’t really know who would win because both would be looking for first Olympics title so there could be pressure for both maybe more so for Djoker because he would be the favorite as the world number one.
Now
Didn’t mean to add the extra now. My bad
I almost got this completely. I just didn’t have enough faith in Murray.
I like Murray at The Aussie Open, and rafa will not win at RG…..and I hope Fed wins one somewhere, somehow!!!
not out of the question that Fed wins one
Can’t resist having a go at this thread. No jinx intended. 2 slams for Nole, 1 for Rafa, 1 for Andy.
AO Nole
FO Rafa
Wimbledon Nole
US Open Andy
Olympics Gold: Novak Djokovic
would not be too surprised if these are correct
Thanks, Ricky!
Scoot Dimon ( any relation of Ricky?)
Are you looking into your crystal ball and saying Rafa WILL NOT (capitalization is mine) win RG? In which case of course nobody can dispute what you are saying but wait with bated breath for RG to roll around and prove either that you are the modern Nostradamus (or reincarnation of Baba Vanga?) or that you are just a frustrated Fed fan hating on Rafa.
However if you have some rational basis for the above confident assertion, do let us know your reasoning. Might be interesting.
yes, he is guaranteeing Nadal does not win the French
it should be noted that he also picked Nadal to lose the French in 2009
Lol!!!
Hey Ricky will u have your tournament predictions for chennai Brisbane and Doha up soon?
they’re up!
here you go – https://tenngrand.com/2016/01/03/doha-brisbane-and-chennai-previews-and-predictions-2/
I have a makeshift crystal ball and I predict that Ricky will predict;
Chennai: Stan
Brisbane: Fed
Doha: Djoker
i predict that everyone will predict that!
I am Nostradamus! I know Ricky’s basis: keep predicting somebody will win till he loses!
or better yet, until he DOESN’T lose!
Yes, that’s more like it!
Until he DOESN’T lose is equivalent to until he wins. So Ricky is saying he keeps predicting somebody wins until he wins. Looking at logic and language usage Ricky’s statement is incorrect.
^^ RITB
um, that was a joke
But obviously native did not realize that. Why are you deleting facts?
NNY’s comment was also a joke.
They both have a sense of humour though.
Ricky’s law of prediction:
Everybody continues to win or lose until he doesn’t.
This sounds like Newton’s second law without the circular definition of force:
Everybody continues in its state of rest or uniform motion except insofar that it doesn’t.
In other words Ricky is a firm believer in inertia.
hawkeye, since when?
Since every time you set them up.
Rafa and pretty much every player are firm believers in inertia. In tennis, it’s called confidence.
spot holdserve above?? i looked her up in the tt archive. she was saying exactly the same things there! down to the exact phrasing. logic hahaha!! she’s unbelievably illogical.
absolutely no question that mary = holdserve.
am very surprised you guys didn’t see who she was earlier. the similarities are overwhelming.
In hindsight, it is plainly obvious.
#SMH
quite depressing reading this piece in retrospect. ricky had rafa winning rg and getting to the uso final!! rafa has now not been to slam final since rg 14. his results for the last few slams don’t even live up to his ranking, not nearly.
not a bad set of picks though ie nole for the ao and andy for wimby ie 2 out of 4.
didn’t benny predict stan would win the uso? that’s quite a pick!!
^^ we agree for a change
hawkeye, If you mean you agree with me, it is not surprising. We are actually a lot alike but sadly your thinking has got twisted by being on the dark side. So now we are more like matter ( that’s me) and anti- matter (that’s you).
Or you simply meant your prediction is the same as Ricky’s? I would call it the “obvious” prediction. A euphemism for lazy thinking prediction.
Wrong on both counts.
Nothing new.
Let’s say Rafa wins FO and USO, Nole still huge favorite for AO which he will most likely take (although the weather plays significant role; if heat remains an issue Rafa will take AO) and Andy takes Wimby! Nole may be too focused on Olympics which will interfere with his GS plans…
Rafa will make surprises this year!
BTW, it’s easy to just predict the obvious! Make more of it and think of the stuff that is unlikely to happen but still might…Rafa has always been unpredictable, sadly 2015 included…this year shall be his breakthrough year once again…
Vamoooos!
I have only one thing to say:
For Muzz to win Wimbledon, he has to avoid Fed at all cost.
we’ll see in 6 months. A lot can change.
I don’t see any comments here. What happened? Did Ricky delete all?
?
????
Now the comments have appeared! Must be crisscrossing with some parallel universe leading to strange disappearances and mysterious re-appearances!
I can actually relate to your experience here.
What happened to all of the comments here???
Nothing