Wimbledon (England), Jun 24: As Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer step back on the grass at Wimbledon, each has reason to believe he'll be hoisting the trophy overhead in two weeks' time.
None of the other 125 men in the field can honestly say the same.
Indeed, it's tough to imagine anyone outside that trio winning this year's championship at the All England Club, where play begins on Monday.
"They've, you know, been pretty selfish about Grand Slam titles for a little bit," said 2003 U.S. Open champion and three-time Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick.
Either Nadal or Djokovic has won each of the past nine major tournaments, and they have met in the last four finals.
"It's up to somebody ... to break that mold," said Federer, owner of a record 16 Grand Slam titles. "I hope I can do that."
Add him to the equation, and those three men have combined to win 28 of the past 29 majors, a seven-year run of dominance that began with Nadal's victory at the 2005 French Open. (The lone exception was the 2009 U.S. Open, where Federer lost in the final to Juan Martin del Potro.)
The top-seeded Djokovic is the defending champion at Wimbledon — and while it's the only grass-court title on his resume, it's a rather significant one.
"I mean, this is what I'm born for," he said after beating Nadal in four sets in the 2011 final. "You know, I want to be a tennis champion. I want to win more Grand Slams. I will definitely not stop here."
He moved to No. 1 in the ATP rankings the next day and has remained there, while compiling a 27-match Grand Slam winning streak that included titles at the U.S. Open in September and Australian Open in January, before ending with a loss to Nadal in the rain-interrupted, two-day French Open final two weeks ago.
Nadal once was thought to be a clay-court expert but has shown that he can adapt to, and excel on, other surfaces, joining Federer among the seven men who completed a career Grand Slam. At Wimbledon, the Spaniard reached the final in each of the last five times he entered the tournament, winning twice and finishing runner-up to Djokovic or Federer.
And Federer? All he's done is win six championships plus make one final at the All England Club in a seven-year span from 2003-09.
"I would just like to get another Wimbledon crown. It would be amazing to get No. 7," said Federer, who lost in the quarterfinals to Tomas Berdych in 2010, and to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2011.
He's gone about 2 1/2 years without winning a Grand Slam title, his longest drought since he won his first nine years ago.
"The hunger is obviously big," said Federer, approaching his 31st birthday on Aug. 8.
While players such as Berdych or Tsonga or Roddick or del Potro have shown they can compete with the best on their best days — and No. 4 Andy Murray, a three-time major finalist, gets plenty of home-crowd support because he represents Britain — the expectation is that Djokovic, Nadal or Federer will extend their hard-to-believe rule at Grand Slam tournaments.
Murray dismisses questions about being burdened by all the attention he gets in these two weeks — and all the hopes the locals have.
"Doesn't add any extra pressure. I think in all sports, playing at home is viewed as being a huge advantage, whereas for some reason when it comes to Wimbledon, everyone thinks it's a bad thing," he said. "I haven't really found it that way. When I've played here, I've enjoyed the challenge, I've enjoyed playing in front of a passionate crowd, and it's helped me."
For some perspective, consider what's been going on in golf: When Webb Simpson won the U.S. Open last weekend, he was the ninth consecutive first-time major champion in that sport; he also was the 15th man to win one of the past 15 majors. That sort of parity does exist in tennis, too, but only in the women's game, where six players divided up the most recent six Grand Slam titles, capped by Maria Sharapova's triumph at the French Open.
That return to the top — and to No. 1 in the WTA rankings — makes her a popular pick to do well at Wimbledon, too. She did, after all, make her breakthrough at the grass-court tournament by winning it at age 17 in 2004.
There also are cases to be made for four-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams, who is sure to be intent on making up for a first-round loss at Roland Garros; defending champion Petra Kvitova; recent No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, a semifinalist a year ago; 2007 runner-up Marion Bartoli; former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, probably the best player without a Grand Slam title; and even Venus Williams, who might be slowed by an autoimmune disease but still knows how to get the most out of her big serve and powerful groundstrokes at a tournament she's won five times.
It's much easier to come up with a lengthy list of contenders for the women's title than it is for the men's.
Why has tennis' top trio won major after major?
"Because they are too good," Tsonga said. "That's it. They're just too good."
