Novak Djokovic: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal Are Wimbledon Favorites

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the favorites at Wimbledon, according to Novak Djokovic, who also denied the notion he was one of them.

After a year of inconsistent performances due to injury problems, Djokovic has steadily improved his game and results since the start of the clay-court season in April. The Serbian ace is currently in the quarterfinals of the Queen's Club Championships following an impressive 6-4, 6-1 win over Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday and will face Adrian Mannarino next on Friday.

A win in the event would put Djokovic in good stead ahead of Wimbledon next month as he will be looking to win his fourth title at SW19 as well as his first Grand Slam in over two years. However, Federer is the current favorite to retain his Wimbledon crown, and while Djokovic is the only player to defeat the Swiss legend there twice, he believes he is far from being one of the favorites in the competition at this point.

"Well, I mean, let’s not get, you know, too ahead of ourselves too early," Djokovic said smiling, as per Metro. "I mean, I had two great matches so far, and I’ll just keep my focus here. I’m definitely not one of the favorites in Wimbledon, so I’ll just try to keep it humble."

He instead thinks of himself as a potential contender along with the likes of Dimitrov, Andy Murray, Marin Cilic and Sam Querrey.

Like Djokovic, Murray also suffered from injuries in 2017 but recently made his comeback for the first time in 11 months against Nick Kyrgios at Queen's. Although he would lose a three-set encounter, his display was promising.

"Well, I mean, Nadal. Nadal and Roger [are the favorites]," Djokovic added. "You know, Andy and myself, you know, if we play well. Obviously we dropped in the rankings, but Andy played really well against Nick here first round. He has home support and, you know, a lot of things can go in a right direction for him as long as he’s healthy. So, I mean, he’s always tough to play against on grass courts, especially in Wimbledon."

"Dimitrov, obviously if he plays on a high level, he can really beat anybody this surface. I mean, guys like that, Querrey, Cilic. Of course Cilic, you know. So it’s quite open. I mean, Roger is a clear favorite, without a doubt. Nadal maybe hasn’t played that well in Wimbledon last couple of years up to his standards, but he’s won it several times, played finals several times. He’s definitely rightly one of the candidates to win the title."

Meanwhile, Federer survived a scare in the Halle Open as he needed a tie-break in the final set to defeat Benoit Paire 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 on Thursday. He will face Australia's Matthew Ebden next as anything but a win in the event will see the 36-year-old lose his No. 1 ranking to Nadal again in what would be the fifth time this year.