Will the Djoker also wobble in round three?

Novak Djokovic was nowhere near as successful as in the opening match, but still deserved to win in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships after his knee operation. The exceptional Serbian player, who could equal record winner Roger Federer with his eighth title on Church Road, now has 94 wins from 105 singles matches played at the only Grand Slam tournament to be held on grass. Alexei Popyrin’s bet on Djokovic winning against Novak Djokovic is also under a good star

After all, Alexei Popyrin is anything but an accomplished grass court player. In the run-up to this year’s edition of the Wimbledon Championships, the Australian won only one singles match ever in the men’s singles of the grass Grand Slam at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. And yet, against a slightly weakened Serb, it is not entirely far-fetched to predict that Alexei Popyrin might even win a set against Novak Djokovic

The last time the two players faced each other was at the Australian Open Down Under at the beginning of the year. The Djoker won 3:1 (6:3, 4:6, 7:6 and 6:3) in a close match, but had won just five games more than his opponent in the end. The situation was similar in the second round match of the Wimbledon Championships against Jacob Fearnley (ATP 277). At 6:3, 6:4, 5:7 and 7:5, the Serb again “only” won five games more.

In our opinion, it is therefore very promising to put a positive handicap on the Australian. We are backing Alexei Popyrin with +6.5 games. This would also cover the unlikely event of Djoker’s elimination

Alexei Popyrin – stats & current form

Current position in the world rankings: 47
Position in the seeding list: unseeded

The 24-year-old Australian Alexei Popyrin has been a permanent fixture on the ATP Tour since 2018 and has only missed one Grand Slam tournament since the start of 2019. However, he has always been denied resounding success in the men’s singles of the four Grand Slams.

The player from Sydney won just 15 of his 36 singles matches at Grand Slam level in the run-up to the Wimbledon Championships – including just one match at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, where he has always failed in the opening match in the last three years

Alexei Popyrin reaches the 3rd round of Wimbledon for the first time

In this respect, Alexei Popyrin’s entry into the 3rd round of the London grass court Grand Slam can certainly be seen as a small success for the 24-year-old, especially as he was even able to eliminate a player from the seeding list, Tómas Martín Etcheverry (ATP 30), in the 2nd round. He even managed a comeback win in his 3:2 victory (3:6, 6:4, 4:6, 6:4 and 6:3).

In a mixed year, it was the twelfth singles win for the Australian in his 23rd match. He has only ever beaten a top 10 player at the Monte-Carlo Masters, when he defeated Andrey Rublev (ATP 6), a top star on the ATP Tour, remarkably easily 2-0 (6-4 and 6-4).

Alexei Popyrin offers too much on his second serve

This means that Alexei Popyrin’s chances of advancing against Novak Djokovic, who has only won six of his 18 singles matches against top 10 players, are not looking too good. After all, he already had to admit defeat to the Djoker at the Australian Open 2024.

The main problem here is that his style of play, which usually aims to find good angles for deep baseline shots, doesn’t really suit the fast grass, where power usually comes before accuracy, while his second serve also has a lot of room for improvement. With eight double faults, he only managed 22 points on a total of 44 second serves in his second round victory. That should ultimately provide the experienced Djoker with too much of an attacking surface to get the breaks he needs

Novak Djokovic – statistics & current form

Current position in the world rankings: 2
Position in the seeding list: 2

The 37-year-old Serbian Novak Djokovic may already be the record Grand Slam winner on the ATP Tour, but he is far from satisfied. There are still numerous records that Djokovic does not have. For example, Roger Federer is still the record winner at the Wimbledon Championships with eight titles.

However, if the Serbian, who naturally plays a certain role in the Wimbledon overall winner prediction, were to triumph again at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, he would also secure the title at Church Road for the eighth time and draw level with the Swiss.

What percentage is the Djoker at again?

However, Novak Djokovic already had to throw in the towel at the French Open due to injury and subsequently underwent knee surgery. Because he didn’t want to miss Wimbledon under any circumstances, he has now returned even earlier, although he is not yet back to 100 percent.

This was in no way evident in the first round, when he swept past Czech qualifier Vit Kopřiva (ATP 123) 3:0 in under two hours, dropping just five games in a 6:1, 6:2 and 6:2 win. However, in the second round, when the blatant outsider Jacob Fearnley (ATP 277) took an impressive 19 games from the Djoker

Novak Djokovic won 89.5 percent of his Wimbledon matches

Despite this, Alexei Popyrin’s bet on the Serb reaching the last 16 against Novak Djokovic is of course far more favorable. While the Australian has reached the third round at Wimbledon for the first time ever, Djokovic has reached the grand final in the last five men’s singles of the only Grand Slam tournament to be played on grass.

The 37-year-old has a total of 94 wins from 105 singles matches played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which is why anything other than his victory against a player against whom he is also 2-0 up in the head-to-head comparison would be a minor sensation

Alexei Popyrin – Novak Djokovic head-to-head / H2H record

Head to head: 0:2

The two athletes have faced each other twice on the ATP Tour so far and the Serbian superstar came out on top on both occasions. After a smooth 2:0 victory in Tokyo in 2019, Novak Djokovic had to toil hard against the Australian in the second round in Melbourne at the beginning of the year. In the end, the Serb won 3:1 (6:3, 4:6, 7:6 and 6:3)

Alexei Popyrin – Novak Djokovic tip

The betting odds for Alexei Popyrin against Novak Djokovic are heavily in favor of the Serbian superstar. However, Nole already had to drop a set in the 2nd round against a blatant outsider. Moreover, he announced before the tournament that it was only his love for the Wimbledon Championships that had allowed him to return to the court so quickly after his knee operation. His fans were able to see that he is not yet at 100 percent in the second round match at the latest

In Alexei Popyrin’s match against Novak Djokovic, it is therefore interesting to predict that the Australian will take at least one set from the Serb, as he did at the Australian Open 2024, and make the match correspondingly exciting.

We therefore place a handicap of +6.5 games on the underdog. Bet-at-home offers odds of 1.68 for this, which we play with four units.