Djokovic v Kyrgios predictions & tennis betting tips for Wimbledon men's final

Free tennis tips, best bets and analysis for the Wimbledon men's singles final at the All England Club on Sunday.

Where to watch

BBC One, 2pm Sunday

Best bets

Novak Djokovic to beat Nick Kyrgios 3-1
1pt 11-4 Hills

Novak Djokovic to beat Nick Kyrgios 3-2
1pt 6-1 BoyleSports

Advised pre-tournament

Novak Djokovic to win men's singles
3pts 5-6 Betfred, Coral, Ladbrokes

Preview

The race to be the most successful men's player in tennis history gathers pace on Sunday when Novak Djokovic bids to eat into the lead of 22-time Grand Slam singles champion Rafael Nadal.

The Spaniard leads Djokovic by two in the charge to be hailed as the greatest of all time, but the super Serb is in pole position to reduce his arrears to just one.

Whether by accident or design, Nick Kyrgios has been sent into bat in the Wimbledon singles final courtesy of Nadal's reported abdominal injury, which led to the Majorcan withdrawing before his semi-final against the Australian.

Nadal, champion at the Australian and French Opens this year, had enough to edge past Taylor Fritz in the last eight but felt it best not to press on in the London major.

Interestingly, and this point is unlikely to have gone unnoticed in Nadal's camp, Kyrgios leads Djokovic 2-0 in their personal series, having won all four previous sets the pair have contested, all of which were on North and Central American hard courts in 2017.

Did Nadal think there was more chance of Kyrgios thwarting Djokovic's hopes of adding to his 20 major wins in the Wimbledon final than himself? Perhaps only Nadal and his camp can answer that but it nonetheless offers food for thought.

Djokovic is still a warm favourite to land a seventh grass-court championship, notwithstanding his head-to-head record against Kyrgios, who will be contesting his first major singles final.

Kyrgios, who has fired down 120 aces in his five singles matches, is the ATP Tour player who possesses the greatest potential to trouble Djokovic and Nadal. And at 27 years old he’s in his physical prime while his opponent is unlikely to be getting much better aged 35.

In Djokovic's favour is the fact that it took an almighty effort from Kyrgios to edge Stefanos Tsitsipas in round three at the All England Club. And the Canberra native needed five sets to see off promising American Brandon Nakashima in the last 16 and Paul Jubb in round one, although Kyrgios may have been looking for extra court-time against the British wild-card to improve his fitness.

Djokovic's route to the final has been mixed too. His toughest test was in the quarter-finals when he fought back from two sets down to deny Jannik Sinner, conqueror of Carlos Alcaraz and Stan Wawrinka.

He wasn't rushed in posting four-set victories over Soonwoo Kwon in his opener, Den Bosch champion Tim van Rijthoven in the last 16 and Britain's Cameron Norrie in the semi-finals. But Djokovic was clinical in downing Kyrgios's friend and compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis and his fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic in straight-set triumphs in rounds two and three.

Djokovic's fitness is there – we pretty much knew that from his clay triumph in the Rome Masters and his subsequent effort at Roland Garros – so the Wimbledon final will be more about what physical attributes Kyrgios brings to the party.

The outsider is so talented that Djokovic, who will be fully respectful of the potential danger his final foe provides, should apply himself fully to the job from the outset. The oddsmakers make the favourite just a shade under 6-4 to register his third straight-sets win of the tournament, but considering Kyrgios's ability punters still face a difficult task trying to gauge Djokovic's level of supremacy.

Given their past two clashes, an upset cannot be written off at all but it still seems likely that Djokovic, who has taken fast-court tennis to new levels, will find ways to boss matters for the majority of the match.

With Djokovic, who will be contesting a record 32nd Grand Slam singles final, priced on the short side to win in double-quick time, it could be worth having interests on the former world number one to triumph in four and five sets.

A 3-0 loss would be a disappointing result for Kyrgios given his huge potential and his opponent's advanced age, but at the same time Djokovic is going to be giving his absolute all to secure the triumph with his majors race with Nadal still an open and enthralling heat.

Punters can also consider backing the final to feature at least one tiebreak set. The combatants' previous four set scores, all on fast terrain, were 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 and 7-5 so we could see further competitive entertainment in the south-west London title match.

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