Wimbledon Tennis 2016 Men's Final: Andy Murray vs. Milos Raonic Predictions

These might not be the names fans were expecting at the start of the tournament, but Andy Murray and Milos Raonic deserve their spots in the Wimbledon final.

Raonic will be appearing in his first career Grand Slam final as the 25-year-old Canadian is still just scratching the surface of his potential. After an upset win over Roger Federer in the semifinals, he likely won't be underestimated any longer.

Meanwhile, Murray has been to this stage plenty of times, set to make his 11th major final appearance including now three in a row. Unfortunately, only two of those have resulted in championships and none in the last three years.

Both of these men have had an impressive run to this point, but only one will break through with a major tournament title.

2016 Wimbledon Gentlemen's Final

When: Sunday, July 10

Time: 9 a.m. ET (2 p.m. BST)

Where: Centre Court, All England Club, London

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Preview

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Novak Djokovic going down in Round 3 opened up the top half of the bracket, but there was nothing cheap about Raonic's run to the final. He faced four seeded players in six matches, while even early-round battles against top-50 opponents Andreas Seppi and Pablo Carreno Busta were no walkovers.

The challenging run reached its peak with a semifinal matchup against Federer—a man who had won this event seven times in his career.

While Federer had an early lead and could have sealed the victory in the fourth set, Raonic showed great resolve to battle back while winning the final two sets of the match.

The physical tools were there to win, including a serve that topped at 144 miles per hour and averaged 129 mph. This helped him tally 23 aces while winning 83 percent of first-serve points. However, the mental aspect was arguably just as important in his victory.

Raonic credited John McEnroe among his coaching staff with helping him in this area, per Piers Newberry of BBC Sport:

"

What he told me was to go out and leave it all out there. 

I showed a lot of emotion, always positive. Mentally I had one of my best matches of my career. He gave me plenty that helped today, so did Carlos Moya. I hope they have a lot more to give me. I'll focus on the task at hand. I've by no means done what I came here to do.

"

The confidence to win one more match is important, but things could get much tougher the next time out.

Federer had some uncharacteristic errors, produced double-faults at inopportune times and only went 1-of-9 on break points. It's hard to rely upon these factors based on how well Murray has played as of late.

Murray has now won 22 of his last 23 matches over the last couple of months. This is his fifth tournament since the start of May, and his only defeats are in the finals to Djokovic.

He has been simply dominant in London, winning all but two sets and facing just a single tiebreak. His effort against Tomas Berdych in the semifinals was simply masterful, winning 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 while barely breaking a sweat. Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash had high praise for the British star's effort:

Murray is serving well, handling work at the net, avoiding mistakes and doing just about everything you need win at a high level. He will also benefit from facing someone new in a major tournament final, as Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated pointed out:

Raonic showed he will not go down without a fight and showed he can battle Murray in the final of the Aegon Championships just a few weeks earlier. The Canadian won the first set before failing to close out the favorite.

The problem is Murray is playing too well at this stage of his career and rarely falls to a weaker opponent. He should be able to finish off this tournament and win his second career Wimbledon title.

Prediction: Murray wins 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3

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