Things have not been easy for Andy Murray in his encore season on the heels of having finished a year at No. 1 in the world for the first time in his career in 2016. He is just 21-9 with a single 500-point title in Dubai.
The top-ranked Scot appeared to turn things around when he made a run to the French Open semifinals–on his worst surface, it must be noted–and came within one set of facing Rafael Nadal in the title match (Murray ended up going down to Stan Wawrinka in five). But all of that momentum was wasted in the most shocking of fashions, as the 30-year-old lost right off the bat in round one of perhaps his favorite tournament earlier this week. Murray, who had been 30-5 lifetime at Queen’s Club with five titles, fell to Jordan Thompson 7-6(4), 6-2.
“(It’s) a big blow, for sure,” the No. 1 seed admitted. “Obviously this tournament has given me great preparation in the past, and when I have done well here, Wimbledon has tended to go pretty well, too. (It’s) not ideal obviously, but guys have in the past also gone into Wimbledon having not won lots of matches…. But it certainly would have helped to have had more matches.”
Murray is a two-time Wimbledon champion and he warmed up for each of those triumphs by also lifting the trophy at Queen’s Club, first in 2013 and again last summer. But he knows improvement is necessary if title No. 3 at the All-England Club is going to become a reality.
“If I play like that, I certainly won’t win Wimbledon,” the three-time major winner admitted.
The smart money, however, is that Murray will rebound. According to TopBet.eu, he is 7-2 co-favorite with Roger Federer to win Wimbledon. Novak Djokovic is the third choice followed by Nadal, Milos Raonic, Nick Kyrgios, Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov, and Juan Martin Del Potro.
Federer, meanwhile, also lost his grass-court opener earlier this summer. The 35-year-old Swiss was stunned by 39-year-old German Tommy Haas in the Stuttgart first round, but he has already had time to recover. Federer is back in action this week at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle and has so far dismissed Yuichi Sugita and Mischa Zverev en route to the quarterfinals.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion advanced to the Wimbledon semis last season despite being less than 100 percent due to a knee issue. Federer ended up falling to Milos Raonic in five sets before Raonic went down to Murray without much of a fight in the final.
Yeah this article is out of date.
Federer is the betting favourite on most if not all betting sites currently.
Murray or Djokovic will probably lose before semis. Possibly both.
I’m very curious to see how Djokovic looks in Eastbourne (I think it’s Eastbourne?) next week. Something tells me that now that he has no big titles to defend, save for Canada, maybe he will play a little more freely? Who knows…
Can’t see it.
Doesn’t have the mental consistency needed, or the coaching team to support him.
He has that wally pseudo guru in the pink jumpsuit whispering in his ear and also his younger brother acting as coach 🙂
Surely all that hugging and sharing his love with the crowd will get him back on track, no?
Djoker will probably lose in the Eastbourne semis or something lol. Not even kidding cuz the lineup is pretty stacked for some reason.
Thank-you Kevin! I think so too. Novak is not back yet but he’s coming back. We gonna see.
Yeah he’s definitely coming back. Just a matter of when.
But a win at Wimby isn’t in the cards IMO.
Welp, ol’ Hawkstradamus has a pretty damn good track record thus far this season, so I think I’ll take your word for it! Although I reserve the right to change my mind pending Eastbourne form… 🙂
This tournament is really up for grabs, I know a lot are thinking Rafa is a high possibility of taking it out but its not clay hes playing on. If Fed gets going i think he will be extremely hard to beat.
So far at Halle this week Federer has had to work very, very hard for the wins. IMO he is not a shoe-in to get to the sharp end at Wimbledon. For different reasons already posted earlier I’m not holding my breath Rafa will either.
#The Eeyore in me
F Lopez takes an unexpected title as a huge dog