Roger Federer of Switzerland wipes his face during a training session ahead of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London June 22, 2014.
Roger Federer of Switzerland wipes his face during a training session ahead of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London June 22, 2014. REUTERS

Tennis’ most popular names remain the favourites to win the title at the Wimbledon Championships 2014 but one player is considered a runaway No. 1 choice: Novak Djokovic.

The 27-year old Serbian is pegged at 2.88 to go all the way in London ahead of Andy Murray’s 4.5. Curiously, world no. 1 player Rafael Nadal is just in third while Roger Federer, despite his obvious struggles in Grand Slam tournaments in recent years, is still at fourth at 6.00.

It is worth noting that in the last Grand Slam (French Open) it was the top two players in the world-- and top two in the betting lines-- that made the final and it was the clay favourite (Nadal) who eventually copped the Roland Garros crown. Nadal defeated Djokovic in four sets, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.

With the action shifting to grass, Djokovic will look for a repeat of 2011 when he bagged the Wimby title against Nadal, 6–4, 6–1, 1–6, 6–3. He lost in the semifinals in 2012 and also failed to win the crown in 2013 when he got dominated in straight sets by Murray, 6–4, 7–5, 6–4.

That breakthrough victory was the biggest in his career and most likely the reason why the bookies put him ahead of the Spanish world no. 1. Murray won the U.S. Open in 2012 followed it up with the big win which gave Great Britain its first title in the London Grand Slam since 1936.

Meanwhile, Nadal has flopped in his last two appearances in the Championships getting the boot very, very early; 2nd round in 2012 and an even worse, 1st round elimination in 2013.

No one is trusting Federer’s form as well. Except for a 2012 Wimbledon title, the former World No. 1, who appears past his prime, has not reached a final in 10 Grand Slam appearances.

Here’s the simple formula for the betting lines:

X (Amount of bet) times Betting Odds = Payout

This means that every $100 bet on Djokovic will net a payout of $288—more than double. A $100 on Murray has $450 payout, Nadal $550 and Federer $600.

This is where the betting lines start to get interesting. Darkhorse bets like Grigor Dimitrov (23.00) of Bulgaria; Stanislas Wawrinka (31.00) of Switzerland; Milos Raonic (41.00) of Canada; Ernests Gulbis (51.00) of Latvia and Tomas Berdcyh (51.00) of Czech Republic are all valued at double-digits odds to win the title.

Will one of the underdogs do a Wawrinka like in the Australian Open earlier this year when a player outside of the four big names—Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray—won a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2009?