The Wimbledon singles finals are set.
Roger Federer of Switzerland will face Marin Cilic of Croatia in the men’s singles final while the women’s final will feature Venus Williams of the United States against Garbine Muguruza of Spain.
Sports fans will getting their TVs and couches situated, their strawberries and cream ready, get brushed up on their Wimbledon betting tips and gear up for fantastic weekend of tennis in the world’s most important and historic tennis event.
Venus Williams will play the Wimbledon final at the age of 37, the oldest player to play for a singles title at the All England Club since Martina Navratilova in 1994. There are interesting parallels between the efforts of both Williams and Navratilova. Both were huge sentimental favorites, Navratilova announcing that the 1994 tournament would be her final Wimbledon (although she would return). Navratilova, a natural grass-court player (perhaps the greatest of all time), faced the Spanish clay-courter Conchita Martinez in what seemed like match-up that heavily favored Navratilova based on skill-sets and destiny. Navratilova was playing in her 12 Wimbledon final while Martinez was playing in her first. However, Martinez pulled of the upset victory 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Now, 23 years later, a similar scenario awaits as Venus Williams, also one of the greatest grass-court players of all time, faces Muguruza, who like Martinez hails from Spain and is more comfortable on the clay courts, having won the 2016 French Open. It is the ninth Wimbledon final for Williams, the five-time champion, and the second final at the All England Club for Muguruza, who lost the 2015 Wimbledon final to Serena Williams, the younger sister of Venus.
In the men’s final, Federer is the heavy and emotional favorite to win his record eighth Wimbledon title in his 11th final at the All England Club. Cilic, by contrast, will be playing in his first Wimbledon final and his second major title after his run to the championship at the 2014 U.S. Open. En route to his only major title in New York, however, Cilic had a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 destruction of Federer in the semifinals. But to be fair, Federer was worn out after coming back from two-sets-to-love to beat Gael Monfils in and emotional quarterfinal match.
Federer has yet to lose a set at the All England Club in 2017 and if he straight-sets Cilic in the final to complete the sweep, he would join Bjorn Borg (1976) as the only player to win the men’s singles title without dropping a set. Cilic would join countryman Goran Ivanisevic, the 2001 Wimbledon winner, as the only Croatians to win the Wimbledon title and many Wimbledon betting tipsters make him a trendy pick to pull an upset.
