Wimbledon 2012: Breaking Down Chances for Favorites in London

Let's not kid ourselves. The winner of Wimbledon 2012 is going to be Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal.

Sure, guys like Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, among others, will always make dangerous runs at the title, but the big three are too talented and too determined. To bet against them would be similar to setting your money on fire.

To say that is simple. But to separate the three, who have combined to win the last nine Wimbledons, isn't quite as easy. Let's take a further look at the "trivalry" as we near the third major of the year. 

Novak Djokovic

He's going to be most people's favorite, and it's not hard to see why.

Not only did Djoker go through Rafael Nadal last year on his way to the Wimbledon title, he is actually coming off a finals run at the French Open, despite not playing all that well at times. If Djokovic can make it to the finals on clay, he should conceivably be unstoppable on grass. 

It's looking that way, but he still has a lot to prove. With the exception of his win over Nadal last year, the only other time Djokovic has played one of the other big two at Wimbledon was when he lost to Rafa in the 2007 semifinals.

He's never played Federer there. 

Throw in the fact that Wimbledon is historically Djokovic's second-worst major, and the world No. 1 will have to be at the top of his game. 

Rafael Nadal

Let's face it. We knew Nadal was going to win the French Open. That didn't prove anything.

But if Rafa can find a way to avenge last year's loss to Djokovic, he would establish himself as the new No. 1.

Let's not forget Nadal is still just 26 years old. After losing three straight finals from Wimbledon 2011 to the Australian Open in 2012, people assumed Rafa would never be No. 1 again. 

But he's still very much in his prime. He just needs to prove he can get past Djokovic on a surface other than clay. This will be his best chance to prove that in a long time. Wimbledon is easily the biggest tournament for Rafa in a long time. 

Roger Federer

Federer, a six-time Wimbledon champion, is easily the most successful player at Wimbledon out of the big three. In fact, the only player who has more titles in London is Pete Sampras, who has seven. 

But despite Wimbledon arguably being Roger's best overall major, he has been the worst there during the last two years, failing to make it past the quarterfinals both times.

Last year, of course, he blew a two-set lead to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and in 2010 he fell to Tomas Berdych in four sets. 

Against the other members of the big three, Federer has never played Djokovic at Wimbledon and last played Nadal in 2008, when he lost in the finals. He beat Nadal the previous two years, however.

The 30-year-old Fed-Ex is going to be the "underdog" in this tournament, but that just means he makes for a good bet. 

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