Martina Navratilova Picks Roger Federer and Petra Kvitova to win Wimbledon

The woman she beat in the final at Roland Garros, Romania’s Halep, has yet to win a slam but she has a quarter and a semi under her belt at Wimbledon and is one of the hardest players to beat on the tour.

Wasn’t all that long ago that folks were figuring Federer’s best days were long behind him.

Having said all of that, she has in the past displayed more nerves at Wimbledon than at other tournaments. The ladies singles is wide open without Serena Williams in the draw and in the gentlemen’s singles there are question marks over all the leading candidates.

After winning the title in 2011 and 2014, the Czech will be looking to finish as the Wimbledon champion for a third time. “Really, really happy to have the Grand Slam title”.

Kvitova starts with a Centre Court outing against Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, a player she has beaten in all four of their previous meetings.

Already a Wimbledon champion in mixed doubles, the big server has made a habit of beating the world’s best – Muguruza, Kerber, Sharapova, Halep, Pliskova and Venus have all fallen at the racquet of Mladenovic in 2017 – and a player who favours the grass seems to be in the sort of form to make waves. A Grand Slam win remains elusive for the former world No 1, but surely it’s got to happen one day and without Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova in the draw, there isn’t a better time. She’s due for an even bigger breakthrough at a major, and though she’s in a unsafe section of the draw (hello, Petra Kvitova), she’s proven she’s to have the necessary mental fortitude.

Venus Williams and Kvitova, for different reasons, will be sentimental favorites. “I will double down and say that 40 women could win Wimbledon”. But off course, Venus is under a cloud over a vehicle accident in June which left a man dead.

Kvitova believes that although the memories of the attack will always be with her – the investigation by Czech police is still ongoing – she will refuse to be defined as a victim. All five fingers on her left hand were injured in the late December knifing, and she needed surgery.

She was guarded about her hopes of playing Wimbledon and rested on Friday and Saturday before a positive practice session on Sunday.

Novak Djokovic has won three Wimbledon titles and normally would be considered a real likely candidate for a fourth, but he has not played up to his usual standards over the past year. To have gone from being knocked out in qualifying in the majority of events to a grand slam contender is a remarkable transformation. He tried to look on the bright side recently, saying: “It is liberating a bit”. Before, I was very nervous before every match. “Roland Garros was incredibly open and the victor [Jelena Ostapenko] was the most unexpected one”. He will be the top-seed in this year’s tournament. The Good Lord knows everything, but I reckon even he would be scratching his head if he had to come up with the name of the 2017 women’s champion. Murray, Djokovic, Nadal or Stan Wawrinka could all leave the All England Club with the top spot. It’s nice for those ATP players, they have their wives and kids next to them and they don’t have to think about stopping their careers, they can just keep on going.