Roger Federer has made it clear his priority is to win Wimbledon this year but the Swiss has been warned the chances of that are increasingly unlikely. Federer is currently level with Rafael Nadal on a record 20 mens’ Grand Slam singles titles. However, Novak Djokovic is closing in on the legendary duo.
Djokovic won his 19th Slam on Sunday, coming from two sets down to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the French Open.
Federer pulled out at the fourth round stage, citing concerns over the knee injury that kept him out of the majority of last season.
Speaking in May, the 39-year-old insisted his priority was to play at Wimbledon again, in an attempt to win his ninth singles title at SW19.
Federer said: “That’s obviously the huge priority right now, to win Wimbledon in a few weeks’ time.
“That’s always the number one goal in the season.”
However, seven-time Grand Slam winner Mats Wilander says world No 1 Djokovic will instead go into Wimbledon as the strong favourite.
“We are now heading into the season where we would have to put Novak as the favourite to win Wimbledon most probably, favourite at the US Open because of what he does on hard courts,” Wilander said on Eurosport.
“So yes, it’s on [Djokovic winning his 20th Slam] and the way he looks, he looks young, he looks so fresh at the end, he looks scary good and motivated.”
“He looks unbeatable in the third, fourth and fifth.”
Meanwhile, Wilander says it was a blow for Tsitsipas in his first Slam final but reckons he will get plenty of chances in the future to break his duck.
“It is a big hit [for Stefanos] because being up two sets to love, and he felt in that third set he just needed to hold serve, he was just a point or two away from winning this match,” Wilander said.
“He most probably will win Grand Slams, but losing your first final after being two sets to love up doesn’t give him too much scar tissue because it’s going to be tough.”
