Ahead of Wimbledon 2015, Ahmed Rizvi picks five players outside of the ‘Big Four’ that can make an impact at the All-England Club.
Stan Wawrinka
The Swiss did not do well the last time he arrived at a grand slam as a reigning major champion. The 2014 Australian Open winner was knocked out in the opening round at Roland Garros last year. This year, he arrives at Wimbledon as the French Open champion and every seed in that top half of the draw, including world No 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic, will be looking at Wawrinka with some concern. If Wawrinka gets going, he can be unstoppable.
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Nick Kyrgios
The Australian, in his own words, does not love tennis and would have preferred to be a basketball player. But fate chose him to earn a living with a racket and Kyrgios is one of the sport’s most exciting young talents. He is a character, too, something that tennis desperately needs. A potential third-round match against Milos Raonic should be a cracker.
Borna Coric
Making his first appearance at Wimbledon, the 18-year-old Croat already has wins over two of the Big Four — Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. He has a tough draw, though, with a first-round tie against Sergiy Stakhovsky. Should he succeed, he most likely faces beaten Halle finalist Andreas Seppi, and then potentially Murray in the third, but none of those guys will be taking him lightly.
Marin Cilic
Hampered by injuries since his memorable 2014 US Open triumph, the Croat has played only 19 matches in the first six months of the year and the results have not been great. He has a tough draw with Djokovic, Kei Nishikori, Kevin Anderson and John Isner in the same quarter, but if you had to pick a dark horse, it would be him.
Jack Sock
The 22-year-old American, described as the best US men’s tennis player by John McEnroe last week, had a good first week at Roland Garros, starting with a win over Grigor Dimitrov before losing to Nadal in the round of 16. Staring at a possible third-round clash against Roger Federer, Sock will be looking to shine under the spotlight.
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