Wimbledon 2ß24, round of 16, Monday, 08.07.2024
The goal at Wimbledon is clear: to stand at the top of the podium and draw level with record champion Roger Federer. But is Novak Djokovic strong enough to be among the very best in London?
The Serb is certainly showing problems. Problems that a young Dane would like to use to his advantage on Monday evening. The bookies? They expect a relatively close match. And so I’ll tell you in my Djokovic Rune tip why I’m clearly going for over 3.5 sets here
There was a lot of guesswork surrounding his state of health, nobody really knew which report to believe. Now it’s time for the 4th round at Wimbledon and these questions are still not fully answered!
Novak Djokovic’s preparation for the third major of the year is well known; there was none. After his withdrawal from the French Open, he underwent knee surgery and his appearance on the Thames was eagerly awaited.
In the first round, he swept Vit Kopriva off the court 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, making it seem as if he had never been away. But just a few days later, the first small problems crept in.
In his 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 defeat to Jacob Fearnley, he made it much more exciting than planned, and Alexei Popyrin was also a real challenge for him. Djokovic had to save the 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 to reach the round of 16
19 aces, 89% of points won on first serve and only one break conceded – these figures from the service game are anything but bad. He averages well over 85% in this regard.
At the end of the day, I have to admit to the Djoker that in the first week of the tournament, he faced opponents who were very tough and were able to put him to the test despite his appealing performances.
This is exactly what Holger Rune intends to do on Monday evening. He trails 2:3 in the direct comparison, but has lost the two most recent duels, both of which were played last year.
In other words, Djokovic could put his young opponent in his place for the third time in a row. Incidentally, the two victories in question were incredibly close with the scores 7-6, 7-6, 6-3 and 7-6, 6-7, 6-4
With regard to the average odds, our bookmakers have naturally once again decided to favor Djokovic. Even if the odds of 1.25 to 3.50 don’t even sound that clear, at least by Djokovic’s standards.
Holger Rune will have come to terms with his Danes’ elimination from the 2024 European Championship and will now turn his attention to his own sporting needs. Not everyone would have expected him to be allowed to serve in this round of 16 at all.
In the third round, he had a small showdown with Quentin Halys, but ultimately won 1-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-1. In the decisive moments, his individual quality simply prevailed.
Rune clearly had problems against his strong-serving opponent, who smashed 29 aces over the net. Previously against Thiago Seyboth Wild it was only four sets at 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
What is striking, however, is that he allowed himself to fall behind twice in a row. That was only not the case in his 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 opening win against Soon-woo Kwon.
The Dane conceded a total of three breaks against himself, which is of course something you can live with. His name already appeared high up the rankings at Wimbledon in 2023, when he reached the round of the best eight.
In any case, his preparation for Wimbledon was both brief and unsuccessful. After Rune failed in round 4 at the French Open, he lost to Jordan Thompson right at the start in Queens.
The 21-year-old hasn’t made it past the round of 16 on the big stage this year anyway, but now he could make it back to the quarter-finals for the first time in exactly a year
My Rune Djokovic tip
Does Novak Djokovic really struggle at Wimbledon or do his opponents just play really well every time? As is so often the case, the truth could lie somewhere in between. In any case, Djokovic knows from his own experience how painful matches against Holger Rune can be.
When these two players meet, it’s usually really close. The Dane was in a shower going into the 4th round and lacked concentration, especially in the 1st set. All these facts taken together mean that I can’t avoid the following tip:
3 sets are not enough here!
