Wimbledon men’s singles quarterfinals predictions

Even though this year’s Wimbledon men’s singles tournament started off without the talents of Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem, there is still enough star power to supplement the absences. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who faced off against each other in the 2019 Championship match, have both made it to the final eight and will look to advance closer to a finals rematch.

Here are my quarterfinals predictions:

(1) Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs Marton Fuscovics (HUN)

Prediction: (1) Novak Djokovic (SRB)

This is a fairly simple pick to make. Djokovic is determined to grab his 20th major title and tie Federer and Nadal for first on the all-time men’s singles list. He is not going to let an unseeded Fuscovics get in the way of that. Djokovic leads the head-to-head 2-0, but Fuscovics has been competitive in those matches. The problem is that the Hungarian has played back-to-back physical matches against Diego Schwartzman and Andrey Rublev while Djokovic has won his last three matches in straight sets.

(25) Karen Khachanov (RUS) vs (10) Denis Shapovalov (CAN)

Prediction: (10) Denis Shapovalov

The winner of this match will be advancing to their first major semifinal. Denis Shapovalov has been on fire since surviving a five set match against Phillip Kohlschreiber in the first round. He has hit a combined 97 winners in his last two matches and doesn’t appear to be slowing down. The concern of Khachanov’s body breaking down is pretty high after his 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 victory against Sebastian Korda.

(7) Matteo Berrettini (ITA) vs (16) Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)

Prediction: (7) Matteo Berrettini

I made the mistake of taking Ons Jabeur over Aryna Sabalenka for Tuesday’s quarterfinal because I thought she earned the better victories en route to that point. I am not going to make the same mistake for this match. Auger-Aliassime impressively took out Alexander Zverev in five sets on Monday but Berrettini has been cruising through matchups against unseeded opponents. This is the furthest Felix has made it in a major tournament while Matteo is looking to make his second major semifinal. The experience factor is why I give Berrettini the slight edge over Auger-Aliassime.

(6) Roger Federer (SUI) vs (14) Hubert Hurkacz (POL)

Prediction: (6) Roger Federer

Federer is in his 18th Wimbledon quarterfinal. Hurkacz is in his first ever major quarterfinal. Another good thing for Federer is that he has an extra day of rest over his opponent because Hurkacz had to finish up his Round of 16 match against Daniil Medvedev on Tuesday. I do see Federer getting the victory since he has improved match after match but do not be surprised to see this match go the distance. A win could potentially set up a Federer, Berrettini semifinal, which is a matchup tennis fans did not get to see at the French Open due to Roger’s withdrawal from the tournament.