Roger Federer suddenly becomes the top contender for the Wimbledon Championship following the shocking exit of world's no.1 and pre-tournament favorite Novak Djokovic at the hands of American Sam Querrey on Saturday.
Even before the competition began, the 34-year old Federer already got a lucky break after he was placed in a weaker section of the bracket. Through his first three matches, the Swiss obliterated his opponents with incredible shot-making skills, cruising to successive straight set victories.
However, Djokovic's sudden third round exit might be the biggest break for Federer in this tournament. With his 2014 and 2015 Wimbledon finals tormentor out, the 7-time Wimbledon winner is facing a much easier road to the finals.
Still, that doesn't mean Federer will have a walk in the park the rest of the way. Should he overcome American Steve Johnson in the fourth-round, Federer will face the winner of an intriguing Round-of-16 showdown between Japan's Kei Nishikori and Croatia's Marin Cilic.
The top-half of the bracket remains pretty loaded despite the exit of several seeded players such as Djokovic, David Ferrer, and Giles Simon. Milos Raonic is still favorite to come out of his section, while a very inspired Querrey poses danger to anyone right now.
Then there's world's no.2 Andy Murray, who is also dominating the competition through the first three rounds. The Briton is no doubt the man to beat in the bottom part of the bracket, but the competition down the road will be a lot harder for him than that of Federer.
Aside from the prospect of facing Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round, seasoned competitors like John Isner, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych and the resurging Juan Martin del Potro could spell trouble for him along the way.
It has been bumpy 2016 campaign for Federer ever since suffering a knee injury in January. Federer skipped the French Open championships because of a recurring back injury last May, and suffered losses at the hands of rising stars Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev Jr. in Stuttgart and Halle, respectively.
However, all of the struggles he experience over the last few weeks will be irrelevant if he's able to seize the opportunity at hand. There's no man that has given Federer problem on the grass court than Djokovic, and now that he's gone there's no reason why Federer shouldn't be the favorite to win it all.