Wimbledon R1 previews and predictions: Federer vs. Dolgopolov, Isner vs. Fritz

Roger Federer will begin another bid for an eighth Wimbledon crown when he takes the court against Alexandr Dolgopolov on Tuesday. First-round action is also wrapping up with an all-American showdown between John Isner and Taylor Fritz.

Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. (3) Roger Federer

Federer has not won Wimbledon since 2012, but he is the odds-on favorite to get the job done at the All-England Club in 2017. The fact that he is a seven-time champion of this event is just one reason. Moreover, Federer is an incredible 24-2 this season and coming off a title on the grass courts of Halle. The 35-year-old Swiss has held a match point in all 26 of his outings in 2017, losing only to Evgeny Donskoy in Dubai and to Tommy Haas in Stuttgart.

Up first for Federer on Tuesday is a fourth career contest against Dolgopolov, who trails the head-to-head series 3-0. The 28-year-old, who most recently went down to Federer 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 in round two of the 2016 Australian Open, is a hopeless 0-7 in total sets. Nothing suggests the tide will suddenly turn, because Dolgopolov is struggling down at No. 84 in the world with a modest 11-11 record this season. Even worse, Dolgopolov’s most recent appearance ended in retirement due to an ankle injury (vs. Vasek Pospisil in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch second round). This is an exciting matchup on paper, but in reality it should be absolutely routine for Federer.

Pick: Federer in 3 losing 8-10 games

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(Q) Taylor Fritz vs. (23) John Isner

It will be an all-American affair when Isner and Fritz go head-to-head for the second time in their careers on Tuesday. Their only previous encounter came last summer on the hard courts of Atlanta, where Isner prevailed 7-5, 6-4. Grass, however, is actually Isner’s worst surface. His serve does not bounce as high as it does on clay or most hard courts and he is forced to hit groundstrokes lower than his strike zone. The 6’10” American famously played against–and beat–Nicolas Mahut in the longest match ever, but he has otherwise failed to do much at Wimbledon. Isner is a pedestrian 9-8 lifetime in SW19 with zero trips past the third round.

Neither Isner nor Fritz has excelled in 2017. The former is just 15-13 and coming off a blowout loss to Richard Gasquet in the Eastbourne quarterfinals. Fritz has almost disappeared from the main tour on the heels of his breakout 2016 campaign. A focus on training and fitness as opposed to match play has been at the forefront of his decision, but the 19-year-old is back in the main draw of a slam thanks to qualifying wins over Marco Chiudinelli, Alejandro Gonzalez, and Vincent Millot. Fritz does not have an ATP-level victory to his credit since beating Adam Pavlasek more than three months ago in Miami, so Isner should have the edge here.

Pick: Isner in 4

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