Novak Djokovic on to quarterfinals: who are toughest rivals left at Wimbledon?

Novak Djokovic came into the Wimbledon Championships as the clear favorite to win his seventh title at the All England Club. He is through to the quarterfinals after beating Tim Van Rijthoven, and not surprisingly remains the heavy favorite as the rest of the field thins.

Novak was paying less than even money to win his 21st Grand Slam over the two week span at Wimbledon. He is now at -275 to win, which essentially means if you put 100 on Nole to take the title, you would walk away with $36.36.

Joker vs. the field

Carlos Alcaraz was one of the top candidates to make a run at the current No. 7 in the world, but his run towards the quarters was cut short by Jannik Sinner on Sunday afternoon when the Spaniard was defeated 6-1, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.

Alcaraz, as promising as his future might be, would have needed a near miracle to beat Djokovic on grass. The spaniard is a clay court specialist, and going up against the greatest all-surface player in the history of the sport, the task was always going to be a risky bet.

Nadal +400

The other spaniard in the tournament is no stranger to winning, and no stranger to Novak. Rafa is sweeping through the competition and his latest victory over Lorenzo Sonego sets up a Round of 16 encounter with Botic Van de Zandschulp. Rafa is the most experienced, and really the only player left in the field, that has experience deep into Grand Slams.

Nadal has a record 22 Grand Slams under his belt and has won Wimbledon twice. He has played Djokovic a total of 59 times with the Serbian just edging out Nadal with 30 wins to the Spaniard’s 29. Twenty eight of those matches were finals, in which Djokovic won 15, while Nadal has won 11 of the 18 matchups in Grand Slams.

Nick Kyrgios +800

The mouthy bad boy who has been tabled a bully is taking his career to new heights while earning some new fans and a handful of enemies in the process. The Aussie beat Stefano Tsitsipas by beating the Greek three sets to one which will set up a Round of 16 match up with Brandon Nakashima.

Kyrgios and Djokovic have only played twice before, and the Aussie won both of those matchups. Both wins came on hard court and both wins came in 2017, one at the Indian Wells and then in Acapulco. Kyrgios has never made it past the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam.

Jannik Sinner +1500

Jannik Sinner might be the dark horse pick for the rest of the way. He is paying good value to win it all, and playing even better tennis at the moment. He took down Carlos Alcaraz in four sets to set up a quarterfinal date with Djokovic on Tuesday.

It’s the third Grand Slam in which has made the quarterfinal, but the Italian has never advanced past the quarters. He will have to do it against the defending champion on Tuesday. Sinner and Nole have only met once, it came in the Monte Carlo Monaco Masters last year when Djokovic won 6-4, 6-2.

Alex de Minaur +1900

Alex de Minaur might only have one career title, but he is as far as he has ever been at Wimbledon. He beat Liam Brody in the third round to set up a Round of 16 matchup with Cristian Garin on Monday. If he can get past Garin, he would reach just his second ever Grand Slam quarters, after the US Open in 2020.

The Australian has never played the Serbian before, but if he wants to hoist the title at the All England club, he will likely have to take down the Serbian.

Cameron Norrie +2300

Great Britan’s last hope for its first Wimbledon winner since Andy Murray in 2016 is Cameron Norrie. He beat American Todd Paul to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal ever.

He is ranked No. 12 in the world and has four singles titles, but lost the only match up with Djokovic, which came at the Nitto ATP Finals Italy last year.

Crisitian Garin - +50000

The biggest long shot at 500/1 is Chilean Cristian Garin who can advance to his first ever Grand Slam quarterfinals with a win over Alex de Minaur on Monday. Garin has gone up against Djokovic twice before, once in the ATP Cup Australia, and once at Wimbledon last year. Both matchups resulted in straight set victories for Djokovic.