5 reasons Roger Federer can win Wimbledon 2017

All bets – literally and figuratively, are on Roger Federer to win Wimbledon. While that may be a sentimental choice for many, it is also quite a logical one, and here’s why:

His Form

To say that Roger Federer is in form would be quite the understatement. The Swiss ace long ago established himself as one of the greatest athletes of all time, but in the past year or so had begun to seem increasingly tired, worn out and for all the world, perhaps a bit burnt out. With 18 years of professional tennis under his belt, that would be quite a fair thing to happen, all things considered.

But the Swiss ace, after struggling with injuries exacerbated both by age and his long career in the sport, decided after making the semi-finals of Wimbledon last year – at 34-years-old – and playing two back-to-back mammoth matches, to take an extended hiatus from the sport.

Returning to the sport early this year in roaring fashion, Federer not only blazed through his opposition, but set up a blockbuster final against Rafael Nadal on the heels of a huge semi against compatriot Stan Wawrinka – and won! With that, the Swiss ace catapulted himself further into legend with a record 18^th Major title, and not even on his most successful surface.

Off an extrmely successul hard-court season – one that saw him win yet another Sunshine Double, Federer is now back on the surface he made his own early on in his career. If he can run riot winning titles on hard-court, he could work that magic in its multitudes on grass – and especially at Wimbledon, the ‘Home of Federer’ – or more accurately his temple.

Beating the NextGen

Federer beat ‘future No. 1’ Alexander Zverev in 53 minutes to win the title in Halle

Much has been said about the ATP’s ‘NextGen’, the title given to the crop of young men’s tennis players who have been Domi-nating the scene, pardon the pun. All between 19 and 23 years of age, these players have already climbed far enough up the rankings to count for top-ranked players themselves. The youngest among them is ‘the’ Alexander ‘Sascha’ Zverev, who has beaten the best at their own game – and at 20-years-old, won his first ATP Masters 1000 level title with a straight sets win over Novak Djokovic last month.

For all of Zverev’s finesse on grass – the youngster has beaten Federer professionally off the surface as well, Federer absolutely decimated the young German – whose idol, incidentally, is Federer himself – in a mere 53-minute final, with Federer taking his 9^th title at Halle 6-1, 6-3.

At 35, he’s been called, among other things, and by a few, ‘too old’ – but Federer hasn’t just kept his expertise – he has adapted to his latest opponents with aplomb. Having already this year declared himself over the old guard, the GOAT has now proved he can handle any rival thrown at him.

His Fitness

The break Roger Federer took mid 2016 appears to have been an essential one. Struggling over the years with meniscus injuries, back issues and wrist aches, Federer also will have had slower healing times courtesy his age. But it was as soon as August of 2016 that the Swiss had already returned to his fitness exercises, and streamed a couple of strong sessions against Lucas Pouille in Dubai later in the year.

This year, Federer more than proved that fitness with some incredibly fluid on-court movement, and did not show a hint of tiredness – which incidentally many of his younger rivals did. At full stretch and with some great footwork, there was not a shadow of any of Federer’s past injuries or pain struggles – with in fact, his opponent Kei Nishikori, much younger than himself, opting for a time-out instead.

The Swiss ace has had long matches, short matches and everything in between since January and excelled each time, with no wavering in his stamina – a problem that many of his peers, so much younger than him, have quit matches for.

The Master of Grass

That Federer is the best grass-court player in the history of the game is not a new fact, but let’s look at the numbers. Federer has a whopping 86.7% winning percentage on grass in his career, which he shares with fellow all-time great Martina Navratilova – the highest winning percentage on that surface of all time.

The player has had simply staggering statistics on that surface ever since he went professional, topping at out 15 grass court wins to only two losses in 2012, the year of his most recent Wimbledon title.

Even in the one year he ‘struggled’ with fitness – 2016, Federer had a 10/3 record then – proving not even injuries can stand in the way of his grass court dominance. Now having returned with none of those problems, Federer is the player to beat by a long margin.

Struggling rivals and rested entry

To say that every single one of Federer’s rivals is ‘struggling’ would be unfair – but then, the only exception to that rule is Rafael Nadal, who dominated his own surface – clay – in spectacular fashion.

But Nadal, for his immense successes, has never been as good as Federer on grass – indeed, few players ever have. In comparison to the Swiss ace, Nadal has a 77.63% win rate on grass, in addition to which he has been handed quite the difficult draw at Wimbledn 2017. The Spanish World No. 2

Nadal got off to a quick start against Australia’s John Millman (who was also hampered by injuries), and now faces Donald Young, who has found some firepower of late. But the big test for the Spaniard could be in the form of Russian NextGen player Karen Khachanov, who took Roger Federer to tiebreak at the semi-finals of Halle before eventually losing.

21-year-old Khachanov is hailed as one of the ATP’s most promising young talents, and it’s not hard to see why. The young player has already done well at Grand Slams this year, demolishing No 14 Tomas Berdych and #22 John Isner at the French Open, where he proceeded to the Round of 16 this year before an eventual loss to World No. 1 Andy Murray.

This year, he also defeated David Goffin and seriously threatened big-serving Ivo Karlovic, and the Russian could well impede Nadal’s route to the finals.

The obstacles for Nadal only multiply with each round, with either Gilles Muller or Lukas Rosol – both equally dangerous on grass, with Muller especially looking threatening, and an in-form Cilic up next.

While Nadal is also rested – in fact, more rested for the grass season, it is Federer who had an extended break post Indian Wells and Miami, and back on the surface he has ruled for so long, it is doubtful he can put a foot wrong.

Should Federer find himself up against Andy Murray, that one, given Murray’s recent struggles with hip injury and illness, is likely only to go one way.