Wimbledon 2015 Results: US Open Predictions After Djokovic vs. Federer Results

By capturing the 2015 Wimbledon title, the year of Novak Djokovic continued in men's tennis. 

Roger Federer making his second consecutive trip to the finals was a great story in London, but this has clearly been Djokovic's year. As Ben Rothenburg of the New York Times noted, Stanislas Wawrinka is the only man to beat him at a Slam this year:

The success of Djokovic this season has made him odds on to win the final Slam of the season, the U.S Open. According to Odds Shark, he tops the favorites at 5-4 odds. Here's a look at the top 10 favorites to win the tournament on the men's side. 

Player	Odds
Novak Djokovic	5-4
Andy Murray	4-1
Rafael Nadal	7-1
Roger Federer	9-1
Stan Wawrinka	11-1
Kei Nishikori	16-1
Marin Cilic	20-1
Grigor Dimitrov	22-1
Juan Martin Del Potro	25-1
Tomas Berdych	25-1

With the US Open providing the top stars of the game their final opportunity to make a statement in 2015, the pressure will be on. Here's a look at what to expect from the game's biggest names as they transition back to hard courts and the end of the year. 

Rafael Nadal Will Continue Downward Slide

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

The 2015 season hasn't been kind to Rafael Nadal. The 29-year-old hasn't made it past a quarterfinal in a Slam this season, and his struggles really came to a head with a second-round loss in London to qualifier Dustin Brown.

While Wimbledon has historically been Nadal's weakest Slam (40-9), the loss felt like a sign of things to come. John Lloyd of the Daily Mail broke down the issues in Rafa's game of late:

"

His problem is a combination of a lack of confidence and technical issues. On grass, he can get pulled out wide very easily with his two-handed backhand if someone can serve well, as Dustin Brown did on Thursday. 

Nadal does not seem to react very well to that. He gets aced so easily. It is as if he does not want to take chances, does not move up and cut the angle off a little, or go further back and do something different.

There is doubt in Nadal’s mind when he plays. You can see it.

"

As Lloyd notes, the issues for Nadal appear to extend beyond the technical. He simply isn't playing with the same confidence that has made him one of the all-time greats. With a loss to a relative unknown in Brown, his opponents have clearly figured out he's beatable. 

Looking at Nadal's recent run on hard courts doesn't bode well for a comeback, either. The last time we saw him on the surface, he was getting bounced by Fernando Verdasco in his second match at the Miami Open. 

The Spaniard may get his game back on track in 2016. It's hard to imagine a man with his resume will just completely fall off the map. However, he doesn't seem like a good bet to right the ship in time for a run in New York.

Prediction: Nadal is eliminated by the fourth round. 

Marin Cilic

Pavel Golovkin/Associated Press

It feels a bit strange to call the 2014 US Open champion a sleeper in the 2015 edition of the tournament. Yet, here he is at 20-1 odds to successfully defend his title.

There's reason to be skeptical. The 26-year-old was forced out of the Australian Open to kick off the season thanks to a shoulder injury. When he came back, he certainly didn't look like a man who just won a slam. He was ousted in the first or second round in four of the five tournaments he played in upon his return. 

However, once the French Open rolled around, a healthier Cilic made it to the fourth round. After consistently struggling with clay for his entire year, that ties a personal best result for him at Roland Garros. 

At Wimbledon, he made it all the way to the quarterfinals before running into the buzzsaw that is Novak Djokovic. As ESPN Stats & Info noted, Cilic has always had issues beating Djokovic, regardless of surface or form. 

At the US Open, Cilic returns to his best surface. He's won 11 of his 13 career titles on hard courts and has won a personal best 80 percent of his matches (20-5) at the US Open. 

Picking Cilic against Djokovic might not be very wise, but he's going to be a tough out for anyone else in this field. 

Prediction: Cilic makes a semifinal appearance (provided he doesn't run into Djokovic first)

Novak Djokovic

Pavel Golovkin/Associated Press

Picking chalk might be boring, but it's hard to pick against Novak Djokovic at this point. The Serbian didn't just win Wimbledon, he crushed it. He dropped an entire three sets in the process of marching through the field in England and extending his 2015 record to a mind-boggling 48-3. 

As John Buccigross noted, Djokovic's run of Grand Slam titles has been impressive of late. He's starting to pull away from the pack of the Big Four and establish himself as the man to beat every time out:

Djokovic seems to know he's making up for lost time. In a sport where players' legacies are determined by the number of Slams they win, Djokovic has had the misfortune of playing behind two all-time greats in Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer through most of his career. 

"I’m 28," he said per Bryan Armen Graham of the Guardian. "I feel good. I don’t feel old. I have hopefully many more years in front of me. I’m going to try to push my own limits and see how far I can go really with titles and with myself playing on this high level."

Now he's the one in his prime. As the Wimbledon final with Federer proved, the legends have to be at their very best to upset him, not the other way around. 

With the 28-year-old in full form and hungry for more titles, he's the surest pick to walk through yet another field of challengers and raise the trophy. 

Prediction: Djokovic wins the 2015 US Open