Can Andy Murray Win Wimbledon In 2013?

BBC Sports may have given Andy Murray the 'kiss of death' heading into Wimbledon this June. The two-week long championships at the All-England club start today and most of the BBC's pundits have picked a 'fresh' Murray to win his second career Grand Slam and first at Wimbledon.

If Murray does manage to become the 2013 Wimbledon champion, he will be the first British man to succeed since Fred Perry won the tournament in 1936.

The 26-year old has risen to the number two ranking in the world with some fine performances in the past year. He suffered a heart-breaking loss in the Wimbledon final last year against Federer, but then got the Grand Slam 'monkey' off of his back winning the US Open. He followed that success up with a positive start in the 2013 season battling through to the Australian Open, where he lost in four sets to Djokovic.

Murray missed the French Open due to injury. However, reports indicate that he is at full health and he played pretty well winning his main warm-up event at Queen's Club in the past couple of weeks. 

It might be a little far-fetched to suggest that Murray is 'fresh' compared with the competition. There are certainly fitness concerns surrounding Nadal given his recent injury struggles and the strain put on his knees by a tough 2013 French Open. 

There also some reasonably significant doubts about Federer and his game. The 31-year old is a seven-time Wimbledon champion and a seriously dangerous player on grass. However, the evidence continues to pile on that the powers of the biggest Grand Slam winner in the history of men's tennis are waning. The fact is that Federer hasn't really played badly at all in the 2013 season. He just hasn't been able to make a serious impact.

Murray also avoided the potentially tricky quarter-final draw that is Nadal. So perhaps it is understandable that the Brit is being so heavily favoured.

The problem of course is that none of this really considers Djokovic, the current world number one. It's worth noting that Djokovic took hold of the top ranked position of world's tennis. It wasn't given to him. He had one of the best seasons in the history of tennis in 2011. He wasn't too bad in 2012, in fact he was pretty good. This season Djokovic has arguably been back to his very best. He pushed the greatest clay court player of all time to five sets (and a long fifth set) in the semi-final of the French Open.

Djokovic is hungry, has a great grass court game and should be pretty fresh. He also has the sort of draw that should allow him to move through the rounds smoothly building himself up. Djokovic is the man to beat at these championships.

Loss To Djokovic Suggests Nadal's Clay Dominance Under Threat?

When Rafael Nadal stormed to victory at the Indian Wells tournament in his March comeback from an extended knee injury that had seen him miss close to a year's worth of action. His knees had survived the high profile hard court competition and he played the sort of tennis that made success during clay court season seem ominous.

Nadal has won seven of the past eight French Open titles. He didn't win in 2009 when injury prevented him from putting together a serious defence of his title.

However, a loss to Novak Djokovic in the Monte Carlo Masters Final, a tournament where Nadal has dominated almost without challenge in recent history, suggests just maybe that the Spaniard is a little more vulnerable in 2013.

Nadal's unbeaten run in Monte Carlo was of historic proportions. The 26-year won 47 straight matches. He hadn't lost a game in the competition since 2004.

On Sunday, not only did Nadal lose, but he was looked like he had no answer to the dominant play of his Serbian opponent, world no.1 Djokovic. The 25-year old stormed to a 5-0 lead in the first eventually taking a 1-0 lead in the match with a 6-2 decision in only 45 minutes.

The second set was a tougher affair with Nadal breaking Djokovic early, but his opponent weathered the storm and once again appeared to be dictating the pace by the time the set reached a tie breaker. Djokovic would win that decider 7-1 to take a straight sets win.

Significantly there was no real suggestion of injury from Nadal. In fact, Djokovic entered the game with more fitness question marks having struggled with an ankle ailment earlier in the competition.

It's important not to read too much into one result, but this match does clearly carry some significance. Djokovic has been the top player in world tennis over the past couple of seasons, but ultimately hasn't been able to win a French Open title yet.

The other top players in men's tennis, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, would generally consider clay to be their weakest surface and it's hard to imagine either mounting a serious challenge to Nadal at this year's French, especially considering some of their spring injury troubles.

The Monte Carlo Masters Final was the first time that Djokovic looked capable of moving Nadal around a clay court and seriously stretching him out. The clay court champion looked like he was unable to control the game or pace of the game and frequently was forced into long periods of defensive tennis hanging in the rallies.

The French Open is the final string that Djokovic needs to add to his bow. It is possible that he won't have a better chance than this May with Nadal lacking in recent match practice. Djokovic is in mid-season form and his victory on Sunday should have only wet his appetite for more successes on clay this spring.

You can follow Sebastian Egerton-Read on twitter @SebEread

Rafael Nadal Rocks Tennis World At Indian Wells

Rafael Nadal was out of world tennis for seven months due to knee injuries. Despite the 25-year old's undeniable brilliance, despite his joint fourth most Grand Slam wins (11) and despite the fact that he has won the French Open (7) more times than any other player in tennis history, it just felt like he had been forgotten. Last week's big hard court Indian Wells tournament reminded the tennis world that Nadal is definitely not a man who should be forgotten.

It is  very easy to forget great tennis players in an era where fans are spoiled by greatness. Since Nadal was last on the court a lot has happened in the ever changing landscape of world tennis. Roger Federer won the 2012 Wimbledon championship, a victory that was the 31-year old's first Grand Slam win for more than two years and his first Wimbledon title since 2009. Andy Murray then secured his first ever Grand Slam title when he secured the US Open only a couple of months later. Unquestionably the best player on the circuit without a Grand Slam title up to that point; Murray finally solved his major title goose egg.

After the feel-good stories of Federer and Murray stole the show in the second half of the 2012 Grand Slam season, Novak Djokovic reminded everyone why he is the best player in the world dominating the Australian Open to start the 2013 season.

It seems that there are so many star tennis players in the world that even a player of Nadal's quality can make a comeback with relatively little attention.

Nadal himself deliberately played down expectations ahead of his first hard court tournament for almost a year. Hard surfaces are the toughest on a player's knees and even as the Spaniard was returning to action, there was a suspicion that these early tournaments are a part of his rehabilitation as far as the knees are concerned.

He didn't make a lot of noise in the opening rounds. In fact, he looked distinctly like he was trying to establish himself after spending time on the sidelines. He was taken to tie-breaks and even to a third set; it felt like Nadal would ultimately fall down when tested against the rest of the world's best players.

A quarter-final clash against his long-time arch-rival Roger Federer saw Nadal emerge as with an impressive 6-4 6-2 straight sets victory. However, it was easy to downplay with Federer clearly struggling with a potential back injury.

He avoided both Murray and Djokovic courtesy of the draw and issues something of a warning with a 6-4 7-5 victory over 27-year old Tomas Berdych. The world number six has built up a reputation of being one of the more dangerous hard court players and Nadal appeared to be at full strength dealing with a powerful opponent.

Juan Martin Del Potro booked his final place after a pair of victories over Murray and Djokovic showing off his tremendous power along the way. After losing the first set 6-4, Nadal launched an impressive counter-attack securing his first hard court title since 2010 winning the next two sets 6-3 6-4.

The Indian Wells title clearly signifies the return of Nadal as a real challenger on tennis' world stage. Doubters will point at the fact that he didn't have to match-up against any of the world's other top three players, besides a clearly hampered Federer. He has also decided not to take part in the next tournament in Miami next week.

However, the rest of the tennis world will undoubtedly be worried, especially considering that clay court season in Europe is just about to get under way. Nadal will have a softer surface to play on, which also happens to be his favourite surface.

The current world number four has the perfect opportunity to re-discover his top form and may even start as the favourite to extend his record of French Open titles to eight; he also has the chance to win a fourth consecutive French Open for the second time in his career.

If the 25-year old can stay fit and build up some momentum during the clay court season, then the rest of the world's top players may have something to be concerned about and Nadal may just be ready to compete for top spot in the world rankings again. The world's tennis players have been given a warning shot.