Wimbledon 2021: Predicting Men and Women's Finals Before Week 2

Middle Sunday has arrived at Wimbledon, which means there won't be any matches until Monday. At this point, there are 16 men's and 16 women's singles players remaining in the tournament.

The Nos. 1 and 2 seeds are alive in both tournaments. For the men, that's Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev who have stormed through the field to the round of 16. And on the women's side, Ashleigh Barty and Aryna Sabalenka have advanced to this point.

But those players have their toughest matchups ahead. So if they hope to leave Wimbledon as the champion, they are going to have to take down strong competition in the near future.

Here's a look at the remaining Wimbledon fields, along with predictions for how things will unfold in both the men's and women's singles tournaments.

Men's Singles

No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 17 Cristian Garin

No. 5 Andrey Rublev vs. Marton Fucsovics

No. 25 Karen Khachanov vs. Sebastian Korda

No. 8 Roberto Bautista Agut vs. No. 10 Denis Shapovalov

No. 7 Matteo Berrettini vs. Ilya Ivashka

No. 4 Alexaner Zverev vs. No. 16 Felix Auger-Aliassime

No. 6 Roger Federer vs. No. 23 Lorenzo Sonego

No. 2 Daniil Medvedev vs. No. 14 Hubert Hurkacz

Women's Singles

No. 1 Ashleigh Barty vs. No. 14 Barbora Krejcikova

Emma Raducanu vs. Ajla Tomljanovic

No. 19 Karolina Muchova vs. No. 30 Paula Badosa

No. 20 Coco Gauff vs. No. 25 Angelique Kerber

No. 8 Karolina Pliskova vs. Liudmila Samsonova

No. 23 Madison Keys vs. Viktorija Golubic

No. 7 Iga Swiatek vs. No. 21 Ons Jabeur

No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 18 Elena Rybakina

Djokovic came to Wimbledon as the favorite, and it comes as no surprise that he's won his first three matches of the tournament with relative ease. He surprisingly lost the first set of his first-round matchup to Jack Draper, but he hasn't dropped a set since.

Although things are about to get more difficult for Djokovic—he faces his first seeded opponent (Cristian Garin) in Round of 16 play on Monday—there's no signs of the 34-year-old slowing down anytime soon. And after winning the first two Grand Slam events of 2021, Djokovic's dominant year has a strong chance to continue.

Djokovic should have no trouble reaching the Wimbledon final. He may drop a set or two at some point during his next three matches, such as his likely quarterfinal matchup with Andrey Rublev. But there are no serious threats to knock off Djokovic before he has a chance to play for the championship.

Who will Djokovic face when he gets there? The other side of the bracket features four of the top seven players in Medvedev, Federer, Alexander Zverev and Matteo Berrettini. While any of them could reach the final, one of those names stands out from the rest: Federer.

A record eight-time Wimbledon champion, Federer overcame some adversity in the first round. He was heading to a fifth set with Adrian Mannarino, who then retired with a knee injury. Federer has since dropped only one set in his past two wins.

Federer hasn't played his best yet, but after his third-round match, he told reporters "I definitely feel like I've gotten my rhythm now, at this point." That's a scary thing for his upcoming opponents.

Time may be running out for Federer, who turns 40 on August 8, to win again at Wimbledon. And he's going to have a chance to do so. However, he's going to come up short.

Djokovic is just about unbeatable during his current run, and he's had plenty of recent success against Federer, winning five of their past six meetings. Djokovic will win again to earn his 20th career Grand Slam title, tying the all-time men's singles record held by Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Prediction: Djokovic beats Federer in final.

Barty retired in the second round of the French Open in June, marking her worst showing at a major tournament in three years. However, the 25-year-old is off to a much better start at Wimbledon, and she could be on her way to winning the second Grand Slam title of her career.

Through three rounds, Barty has dropped only one set—and that went to a tiebreaker during her first-round matchup against Carla Suarez Navarro.

The toughest matchup Barty could face before reaching the final is a potential semifinal match against Gauff, the 17-year-old American who has yet to lose a set in three rounds. But Gauff has never made it past the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam event. So if these two face off, there's a solid chance Barty will prevail.

On the other side of the bracket, there are three of the top eight players in the tournament in Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Karolina Pliskova. Any one of them could get to the final, where a likely matchup against Barty would await.

Of those three, it's most likely that Swiatek advances to that point. Although she's the No. 7 seed, the 20-year-old is playing great tennis of late, having reached the quarterfinals at the French Open and winning her first three Wimbledon matches without losing a set.

Not only that, but Swiatek knows what it takes to win at a major tournament, as she won her first career Grand Slam title at the 2020 French Open.

A Barty-Swiatek final should be exciting to watch. They have only played each other once before, and that was on a clay court at the Madrid Masters in May (which Barty won 7-5, 6-4). It could go either way on grass, especially with how Swiatek has fared in SW19.

However, Barty is back on track after some recent struggles at majors. And she will prove to be too tough to beat, going on to win at Wimbledon for the first time in her career.

Prediction: Barty beats Swiatek in final.