Tennis • Ricky’s Picks For The Four Men’s Singles Grand Slams In 2021

By Ricky Dimon

The 2021
tennis season is shortly approaching, which implies it’s time to make
predictions for the 12 months’s 4 Grand Slams (and, sure, we’ve to hope and
assume that there will likely be 4 in 2021 after we obtained to take pleasure in solely three in
2020). Will Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal dominate, or will outsiders have the option
to construct on Dominic Thiem’s 2020 breakthrough? Listed here are Ricky’s picks.

Australian Open – Dominic Thiem. The Australian
Open needs to be the completely ideally suited setting for Thiem: a comparatively gradual,
high-bouncing onerous courtroom. In 2020, the Austrian was even higher on onerous courts
than he was on clay. His hard-court performances included, in fact, his Grand
Slam breakthrough on the U.S. Open. Now that he lastly has one of many largest
titles in tennis beneath his belt, the world No. 3 is not going to be carried out in by nerves
like he was within the 2020 Aussie Open closing (misplaced in 5 units to Novak
Djokovic—a match that he arguably ought to have gained). No person works more durable than
Thiem, too, so he’s at all times able to go in Melbourne on the heels of a
productive offseason. It’s onerous (admittedly borderline insane) to guess towards
Djokovic Down Underneath, however Thiem got here shut final 12 months and he’s solely getting
higher and higher.

Runner-up
(if on reverse facet) – Novak Djokovic
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French Open – Rafael Nadal. Betting towards
Djokovic on the AO is hard; betting towards Nadal on the FO is unattainable.
Till the Spaniard truly loses one other match at Roland Garros, you simply
can’t do it. He had each motive to lose there in 2020, with little clay-court
preparation upfront of the rescheduled main and—much more
notably—unfavorable circumstances within the fall as an alternative of in late spring.
Nonetheless, Nadal rolled to a thirteenth French Open title and capped it off
by obliterating Djokovic within the closing. That dominance not solely earned him a
record-tying twentieth slam title,
nevertheless it additionally despatched a message to the remainder of the sector that he’ll proceed to be
unbeatable on the terre battue of Paris for at the very least one other 12 months. It’s solely a
matter of time earlier than Thiem has the Coupe des Mousquetaires in his arms, however
it gained’t be in 2021.

Runner-up
(if on reverse facet) – Dominic Thiem
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Wimbledon – Novak Djokovic. Proper now it’s
onerous to see Djokovic dropping in London. Roger Federer is method too massive of a
query mark for 2021, Andy Murray is not a slam-winning menace, Nadal
has not gained Wimbledon since 2013, different challengers aren’t at their greatest on
grass (Thiem, Daniil Medvedev, and Alexander Zverev), and Stefanos Tsitsipas
has by no means been to a serious closing. Are any of these guys going to beat the world
No. 1 in SW19? Uncertain. Djokovic is clearly method too good to go a complete 12 months
with out profitable one slam, and he ought to win at the very least one in 2021 (he gained one in
2020 and should have gained three if not for Wimbledon’s cancellation and his U.S.
Open default). One contender to observe is Milos Raonic, whose all-court recreation in
2020—when wholesome—was spectacular. Though the 2016 Wimbledon runner-up has
little probability of getting via a whole season harm free, he could make
critical noise on grass if he’s wholesome in the course of the summer season months.

Runner-up
(if on reverse facet) – Milos Raonic
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U.S. Open – Daniil Medvedev. Medevedev was
the perfect participant on the earth or a lot of the second half of 2019 and he was one
of the perfect gamers on the earth on the tail finish of 2020. The one event he
performed properly at in every of these years was the U.S. Open, ending runner-up to
Nadal in a five-set thriller earlier than reaching the semifinals this previous fall
(misplaced to Thiem, the eventual champion). An undefeated run via the Paris
Masters and Nitto ATP Finals units up the fourth-ranked Russian completely for
success in 2021. A Grasp of Masters 1000s and now of the year-end
championship, as properly, Medevedev is because of take the following step in his profession by
becoming a member of Thiem as a brand new Grand Slam champion. Tsitsipas can have related
designs, nevertheless it’s Medvedev who’s at the moment nearer to creating it occur.

Runner-up
(if on reverse facet) – Stefanos Tsitsipas

Ricky
contributes to 10sballs.com and likewise
maintains his personal tennis web site, The Grandstand. You may observe
him on twitter at @Dimonator.