Watch out for the Big 4 at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships

Will one of the BIG 4 reign supreme at Wimbledon this year?

Tennis followers all over the world are looking forward to a blockbuster of a Wimbledon tournament this year. But even with the presence of lots of title contenders from outside the top-10, it will most likely be one from the Big 4 of our era – Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray – who will emerge on Sunday, 12 July with the coveted trophy in hand.

This has undoubtedly been the most dominant era by a small group of players in the Grand slams – the sight of anyone outside the Big 4 winning a Major has been extremely rare over the past decade, barring Stan Wawrinka managing it twice and Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic sharing the other two trophies.

The most interesting part, however, is that none of these four surprises took place at the All England Club Centre Court.

Djokovic’s fine run of form continues, and Federer’s confidence is back

What a start it has been in 2015 for World No. 1 Novak Djokovic – Australian Open win combined with winning four out of the first five ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments. He is carrying his red hot form across surfaces too. He dethroned Rafael Nadal at the French Open with commendable ease and in doing so became the first player to assure his spot in the 2015 ATP World Tour Finals later this year.

Even though Djokovic’s French Open dreams got shattered in the final, he will definitely be the top contender at SW19. And if all goes to form we will likely see the Serb kneeling down and having a bite of another piece of Wimbledon Centre court grass, like he did after winning his first title in 2011.

Federer, meanwhile, has picked himself up from his quarterfinal loss at Roland Garros to eventual champion Wawrinka with an unprecedented eighth title at Gerry Weber Open in Halle. He has been in the finals of two Masters 1000 touraments and has a 34-6 record for the season so far, and by winning in Halle he became just the third player in the Open era to at least win eight titles at a particular tournament.

We all know how much he would love to add an eighth at Wimbledon too. And taking his form over 2014-15 into account, we can expect the Swiss to force his way into the semifinals. From there, it is always a possibility that the King of Grass will establish his reign again.

Murray and Nadal search for another Wimbledon title

Since winning the 2010 Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal had never been crowned champion at a grasscourt tournament till Sunday, 14 June 2015, when he won the Stuttgart Mercedes Cup final. His French Open loss somehow had an air of expectation around it considering his recent injury struggles. But look how he has bounced back from that to win on grass after a long wait of five years!

Even though Nadal did not face off against the big names in Stuttgart, the win will boost his confidence to fancy a third Wimbledon title. Being without Grand slam titles for this long is something that Rafa is not used to, which will motivate the Matador to fight it out and possibly win at the hallowed turf. Seeded as low as 10th will only act as a catalyst for Rafa’s fight back to glory.

If recent form is any indication one should not be surprised to see Andy Murray triumphing at this year’s Championship. It’s hardly a surprise to see him seeded third this time around. The Brit is having a great season so far, having reached the Australian Open final and winning the Madrid Masters after losing the Miami Masters only in the final.

In most of Murray’s tournament losses this year, he was stopped by Djokovic. But here, playing in front of his home crowd, the Scot will try to go all out to repeat his 2013 achievement.

Coming into the grasscourt season, Murray has won the Aegon Championship which was his fourth title at Queen’s Club. Having won at the All England Club in 2013 will take away any sort of pressure he initally had when playing at Wimbledon. With his grit and determination, Murray will be tough to beat this time.

The Big 4 combination has won 37 of the last 41 Slams, which is remarkable, and it would take some doing by any outsider to break through at Wimbledon this year. Can anyone do a similar act to what Boris Becker did in 1985 or what Goran Ivanisevic did in 2001, and spoil the party of the favourites? I doubt it.