Three Big Serving Stars Who Could Cause a Major Shock at Wimbledon

This summer marks 25 years since one of the most extraordinary men’s singles finals in Wimbledon history.

Richard Krajicek, who had been dumped out of the grass court tournament in the first round in both of the preceding years, shocked the world when he lifted the trophy in 1996. Along the way, he handed Pete Sampras his sole singles defeat at SW19 across an extraordinary eight-year reign too.

Even more surprisingly, his opponent in the final was MaliVai Washington, a player whose eight-year career heralded only one Grand Slam quarter-final. Also, he had never gone past the second round of Wimbledon in six previous attempts.

It shows the occasional unpredictability of grass court tennis, even if since 2003 there have only been four different winners of the tournament as the axis of dominance. The Messrs Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Murray really took hold.

That said, there appears to be something of a changing of the guard in the men’s game right now, so 2021 could see new names emerging as candidates to ‘do a Krajicek’. That is, overcoming the odds to create a slice of tennis history.

Here are three young stars that may achieve exactly that.

Up to a ranking of 20th in the world, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Felix Auger Aliassime was to win a major in the coming years.

The 20-year-old certainly has the big serving credentials to succeed on the hallowed turf of SW19, and to do so he would become the second-youngest men’s champion at Wimbledon behind Boris Becker.

After two sets against Aslan Karatsev at the Australian Open, the Canadian should have booked his first Grand Slam quarter-final appearance earlier this year. But he is clearly moving in the right direction, and his form on grass in 2019 – finalist in Stuttgart, semi-finalist at Queen’s – hints at a fondness for the slicker surface.

Although ranked ninth in the world, it would still be unexpected should Matteo Berrettini prevail in a Grand Slam any time soon. That is evidenced by his Wimbledon 2021 outright winner tennis betting odds in which the Italian is considered no more than a 50/1 outsider.

However, the Italian is enjoying the best year of his career, with a run to the final of the ATP Cup, a win at the Serbian Open, and a run to his first Masters 1000 final, which he lost to Alexander Zverev.

This is a player with some grass court pedigree too. He won the Stuttgart title in 2019 without dropping a single service game, reached the semi-finals at Halle, and was only dumped out of Wimbledon in the same year by an inspired Federer.

Given his colossal yet metronomic serve, it wouldn’t be a shock if Taylor Fritz goes on to enjoy a fine grass court career.

At just 23, he’s still learning his craft, of course, and his Grand Slam results don’t reflect the American’s obvious talent – he is yet to go past the third round of a major.

But his first ATP Tour title came on the grass at the Eastbourne International, and you suspect that many more will follow for Fritz – and Auger Aliassime and Berrettini too, for that matter.