ESPN analyst John McEnroe picks Roger Federer to win Wimbledon, even though he acknowledges that the gap between the world No. 3 and the Top 2, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal has grown. McEnroe says that the Swiss must use the crowd to his favor.
"I’d be interested to see if he does any of that and alters any of that, because he doesn’t show much on the court," McEnroe told reporters. "It seems like he’s losing out on something that could help him maybe against these other two guys if he had to play those guys. I mean, not if, when. So I think he’s got a great chance this year. I think that’s his best bet. Everyone knows he’ll be 31. He could play another three, four, five years. His body has been pretty resilient. But winning majors, that’s a short span now that you think he’d have a shot. Certainly at Wimbledon he’d have a shot the next couple years to me."
Fellow ESPN analyst Chris Evert added that Federer must attack more.
"I think this is his best surface," she said. "He’s going to try to keep the rally short, and he’s going to try to serve and come in a lot against the Djokovics and the Nadals, and this surface suits him of all the Grand Slams better because I don’t think he has the patience to sit out there and hit groundstrokes all day. Certainly didn’t at the French....I think we’re going to see something different. I think he has flair, he has finesse, he can drop shots, he can slice that backhand and come in, he might sneak in a couple times on serve. At this stage of his career, he doesn’t want to stay back there, so he’s going to try to make an effort anyway to try to come in."