2015 Wimbledon Preview and Predictions

Men's Champion: Novak Djokovic
Women's Champion: Serena Williams
Men's Dark Horse(s): Jiri Vesely, Nick Kyrios, and Tomas Berdych
Women's Dark Horse(s): Victoria Azarenka, Madison Keys, Alize Cornet, Elina Svitolina, and Sabine Lisicki

With the withdrawal of (8) David Ferrer, Jiri Vesely arguably becomes the biggest benefactor of this section. His path to the quarterfinals potentially includes: Paolo Lorenzi, (WC) James Ward, the talented, but inconsistent (30) Fabio Fognini, and an out of form (10) Rafael Nadal.

Kyrgios could have an interesting second round match against veteran (PR) Florian Mayer before facing (7) Milos Raonic, who's working his way back after missing the French Open with foot surgery. He could face a slumping (11) Grigor Dimitrov or (21) Richard Gasquet in the round of 16 before potentially facing (4) Stan Wawrinka.

All of the talk of Wimbledon is on Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, but no one has mentioned (6) Tomas Berdych, who finished runner-up (l. to Nadal) in 2010. With a favorable draw, he should be in good shape until he faces (2) Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Berdych beat Federer in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2010.

(23) Victoria Azarenka is quietly working her way back to form after struggling with injuries last year. The former two-time semifinalist at SW19 has a favorable draw with a potential third round matchup against (9) Carla Suarez Navarro on her weakest surface. Two former Wimbledon semifinals, Pironkova and (7) Ivanovic loom ahead in the round of 16. Awaiting in the quarterfinals, could be 20-time major champion (1) Serena Williams.

(21) Keys has struggled a bit since her surprise run to the semifinals at the Australian Open in January. However, her lone career title was won on grass in Eastbourne last year. Add in a solid draw with a potential match against the slumping (12) Eugenie Bouchard in the third round, Keys could find herself with a nice run this year.

(25) Cornet would have to beat (8) Ekaterina Makarova in the second round. But if she does, a round of 16 match against Keys for a spot in the quarterfinals could be on the line.

(17) Elina Svitolina could face another struggling player in (13) Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round before facing the defending champion (2) Petra Kvitova in the round of 16.

(18) Lisicki is a former runner-up here and seems to always play her best tennis on the lawns of Wimbledon. With a mini-upset on a surging (15) Timea Baczinsky and an upset of (3) Simona Halep in the third and fourth rounds, Lisicki could very well find herself in another final at SW19.


If you don't have time to watch each match of each round, you'll want to make time to watch or set your DVRs for these first round showdowns.

Best Men's 1st Round Matches:
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber
(WC) Lleyton Hewitt vs. Jarkko Nieminen
(27) Bernard Tomic vs. Jan-Leonard Struff
Teymuraz Gabashvili vs. Alexander Zverev
Martin Klizan vs. Fernando Verdasco
(Q) Luke Saville vs. (21) Richard Gasquet
(Q) Dustin Brown vs. Lu Yen-hsun
(13) Jo-Wifried Tsonga vs. Gilles Muller
Sergiy Stakhovsky vs. Borna Coric
(6) Tomas Berdych vs. Jeremy Chardy
(PR) Nicolas Almagro vs. (12) Gilles Simon

Best Women's 1st Round Matches:
Heather Watson vs. (32) Caroline Garcia
Kirsten Flipkens vs. Annika Beck
(30) Belinda Bencic vs. Tsvetana Pironkova
Daria Gavrilova vs. (29) Irina-Camelia Begu
(27) Barbora Strycova vs. Sloane Stephens
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni vs. Yaroslava Shvedova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Mona Barthel
(15) Timea Baczinsky vs. Julia Gorges

Abbreviations
WC-Wild Card
PR- Protected Rankings

all seedings for Wimbledon are in parentheses