Rampant Rafael Nadal has surpassed Roger Federer as Wimbledon title favourite but Novak Djokovic has warned “the passion is back” as the trio of tennis titans jostle to dethrone defending champion Andy Murray.
In what shapes as an epic second week of the 131st championships, the so-called Big Four are among a record seven 30-somethings through to the fourth round.
Between them, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray have won the past 14 Wimbledon titles since Lleyton Hewitt landed the sport’s greatest prize in 2002 — and are again heavily favoured to extend their remarkable dominance to a decade and a half.
Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev are positioned to challenge for a breakout slam but it will take something special for the emerging forces or the likes of 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic and Australian Open semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov to trigger the start of an overdue generational changing of the guard.
After a magical opening to the season, 10-time finalist Federer began the championship as favourite to land an unprecedented eighth men’s singles crown and has powered into the last 16 for an astonishing 15th time.
Turning 36 next month, the Swiss maestro continues to smash records and notch milestones seemingly every time he steps on to the court.
With his 85th, 86th and 87th successes so far, Federer has eclipsed Jimmy Connors (84) as the most prolific winner at Wimbledon in history, while he also chalked up his 10,000th ace en route to a fourth-round meeting on Monday with Dimitrov.
While Federer has moved majestically into the second week, Nadal has violently carved his way through the draw to stamp himself as the man to beat.
Runner-up to Federer at the Australian Open in this wildly retro season, the relentless Spaniard hasn’t dropped a set since May in powering to a 10th French Open title and ominously reclaiming his aura of invincibility.
The world No.2 resumes his quest for a third “Channel Slam” on Monday against 34-year-old Gilles Muller, a fellow southpaw in career-best touch and the tournament’s 16th seed.
After arriving last year as the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four grand slam trophies, Djokovic entered the tournament having been stripped of every single one.
But a morale-boosting and drought-breaking run to the title in Eastbourne has preceded, like Federer and Nadal, three consecutive wins also for Serbia’s three-time champion.
With dual mentors Andre Agassi and Mario Ancic watching on from the world No.4’s courtside box, Djokovic’s former super-coach Boris Becker has seen a man on a mission over the first week.
“He felt it first-hand for a couple of years. We’ve been through ups and downs, both of us. Boris knows me very well. So he’s right when he says that the passion is back,” Djokovic said ahead of his last-16 clash with unseeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
Bidding to join legendary fellow Brit Fred Perry as a three-time champion, Murray is the only member of the big four to have dropped a set as he battles a hip injury that threatened to scupper his title defence before it even began.
The world No.1 resumes against another unseeded Frenchman, Benoit Paire, hoping two days’ rest will sufficiently rejuvenate his battered body for a serious second-week assault.
