Top 5 Predictions for the Rest of the 2016 Tennis Season

Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer will become a first-time gold medalist.

This isn’t bold or really any sort of a stretch at all.  But it’s what I think will happen. Federer and Djokovic took the silver and bronze in 2012, respectively.  Federer will turn 35 during the Olympics on August 8.  Many theorized in 2012 that he would stick around for these games but it was unknown in what shape he’d be in.  Aside from the slight injury concern this season, he’s doing fine and probably a lot better than most people (myself included) would have imagined at the conclusion of the 2012 London games.

But this is Federer’s last shot to win singles gold.  As a quick reminder, he won doubles gold in 2008 with Stan Wawrinka.  The singles gold, though, would be great for Federer and would be basically the one big thing that he’s missing.  He’s got 17 Grand Slams, a Davis Cup title, and something that I’ve mentioned is vastly overlooked by the media and tennis analysts: a record 6 year-end championship titles.

Djokovic has looked virtually unstoppable this season so it’s no stretch at all to imagine that he will be going all out for his first Olympic gold. Djokovic is only 28 (he’ll be 29 in May) so he most likely has one more Olympics left in him after this one.  Although with injuries and other associated things like declining play, that’s not something you can count on.  And I’m sure he won’t.  He will treat this Olympis like it’s his best (and maybe even last) shot to win gold.

I fully expect one of these guys to take the gold in Rio.

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