by Branden Barrett

Created on: May 07, 2010   Last Updated: May 08, 2010

Wimbledon is probably the crown jewel of tennis.  The green stadium courts that reside in prestigious London truly represent all that is tennis’ history.  It exudes refine elegance, and requires players to add a little more variety to their game.  Running around the baseline and hitting the ball as hard as possible won’t work in this environment.  With balls moving fast and bouncing low, players are forced to add a lot of drop shots, net approaches, and volleys to their repertoire.  Unfortunately, because of many one-dimensional players in today’s league, there have been very few “unique” Wimbledon finalists in the last few years.  Now I don’t mean the finalists have been poor, in fact, they are among the best players in the world.  The lack of diversity is an issue, which is why only a handful of pros stand a chance in this year’s Wimbledon.

As far as favorites, you just can’t name a list of potentials without mentioning the current “King of Grass,” and the greatest of all time: Roger Federer.  The Swiss master has won this tournament six times and is trying to break Pete Sampras record at this tournament.  He has already surpassed Pistol Pete’s all-time Grand Slam record and looks to break open the history books once more.  Though he has had a poor start to the year outside of the Australian Open, it is obvious that Federer is only going for the Grand Slams these days.  Also, since he is one of the few who has mastered grass court tennis, he is still the obvious choice for this year’s Wimbledon title; though that doesn’t mean that there aren’t others who can stand in his way.

Probably the second greatest grass tennis player of this era, Andy Roddick is another contender you can never count out.  Though Federer has bested him in three finals on Centre Court, their four hour battle last year will always be remembered.  Even in losing 14-16 in the fifth set, Roddick earned the admiration of the world that day.  This year, Roddick is easily the best player in the world as of the clay season; he has won two tournaments, beaten Rafael Nadal, and has over 30 wins to just 4 losses.  Combining his refined backhand and volleys with his trademark serve and forehand, he has now reached a level that few can match.  Will this be the year Roddick finally adds to his lone 2003 US Open title?  We’ll

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