It seems as if this edition of Wimbledon has been thrown into a time machine and sent back nearly a decade ago. Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the Top 4 seeds on the grass of the All England Club and are poised to turn back the clock once again.

Juan Martin del Potro, one of the three other Grand Slam champions in the draw (also Cilic and Wawrinka), played prognosticator ahead of The Championships. Del Potro assessed the chances of the Big Four, admiring their domination of the tournament since 2003.

“They have returned to be the Fantastic Four, as they have been throughout their careers,” said Del Potro, who is gradually continuing his comeback towards the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. “I think it’s something that appeals to every tennis fan. 

“I’ve always played good tennis at Wimbledon. I also have great memories of the Olympic Games in this stadium. Wimbledon is a tournament that always brings surprises in the first rounds and I think it’s also nice that we have the same top seeds that we had in 2008 or 2009. They are at an excellent level.”

Djokovic could cross Del Potro’s path in the third round, having already met on three occasions this year. The Serbian has captured all three encounters, prevailing on the hard courts of Acapulco and Indian Wells, before taking their quarter-final clash at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome.

But before he can look ahead to a potential battle against Djokovic, the Argentine has been presented another tough opponent in his debut on the London grass. It is #NextGenATP Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis, who arrives at SW19 after stunning World No. 6 Milos Raonic in the first round at The Queen’s Club. 

“He is strong and hits very hard, although I do not know him that well. I think it’s going to be a typical match on grass, where the serve is going to be essential and with very few break points.”

Del Potro returns to action on grass, having played his last match in the third round of Roland Garros (l. to Murray). He points out the keys to success at the prestigious Grand Slam, where he reached the semis in 2013.

“In training, what I try to do is hit the returns harder. When you put yourself on defence it is more difficult to win the point and the ball gets quite heavy, causing the game to slow down.

“I’m still there with an acceptable position [in the Emirates ATP Rankings]. I’m still improving in my comeback. It’s a little out of the ordinary to what I’m used to in my career, but I’m calm and I know that my level will return.”

1) Battle for No. 1: Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic will battle at Wimbledon to be World No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on 17 July. Nadal must reach the fourth round, while Wawrinka and Djokovic must win the title for a chance at unseating Murray from No. 1. Among the scenarios, four certainties exist for Murray, Nadal, Wawrinka and Djokovic:

– Murray will remain No. 1 by reaching his fourth Wimbledon final.

– Nadal will return to No. 1 by reaching his sixth Wimbledon final.

– Wawrinka will debut at No. 1 by winning his first Wimbledon title.

– Djokovic will return to No. 1 by winning his fourth Wimbledon title, but only if both Murray and Nadal lose before the semi-finals.

2) Roger Eyes Record: Seven-time champion Roger Federer is bidding to become the greatest champion in Wimbledon history by breaking a tie with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw for the most titles at the All England Club.

Federer returns for his 20th straight Wimbledon appearance dating back to his junior singles and doubles titles in 1998. The Swiss is also six aces shy of 10,000 for his career – not including Davis Cup and the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games.

3) Quite the Quartet: The Big Four of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray has swept the past 14 Wimbledon titles. Since Nadal won 2005 Roland Garros, the quartet has accounted for 44 of 49 Grand Slam titles (90 per cent).

Wawrinka (3), Juan Martin del Potro (1) and Marin Cilic (1) are the only other Grand Slam champions in the past 12 years. Cilic, 28, is the youngest player with a Grand Slam title, while 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic, 26, is the youngest to have reached a Grand Slam final.

Four men with multiple Wimbledon titles are in the draw for the first time since 1992: Federer (7), Djokovic (3), Murray (2) and Nadal (2). In 1992, the players with multiple titles were Boris Becker (3), John McEnroe (3), Jimmy Connors (2) and Stefan Edberg (2).

4) Top-Seeded Brit: The reigning champion Murray is the first British No. 1 seed at Wimbledon since Bunny Austin in 1939. Murray reached the Roland Garros semi-finals, but lost his opening match at Rome and the Aegon Championships in his only two title defences thus far this season. He meets lucky loser Alexander Bublik in his opener on Monday. Murray is 0-2 against lucky losers in 2017.

5) Nadal, Federer on Fire: Nadal and Federer lead the tour with four titles this season, each winning one Grand Slam, two ATP World Tour Masters 1000s and one ATP World Tour 500. Neither has ever won the Australian Open and Roland Garros in the same year.

However, this is fifth year in which Nadal and Federer have combined to win in Melbourne and Paris (2006-07, 2009-10, 2017). Either Federer (2006-07, 2009) or Nadal (2010) went on to win the Wimbledon title in all four prior instances.

6) Tale of Two Rafas: From 2006 through 2011, Nadal reached the Wimbledon final in five consecutive appearances, winning the title in 2008 and 2010. However, he failed to reach the quarter-finals from 2012 through 2015 before missing the event in 2016 due to a left wrist injury.

Nadal’s past four losses at Wimbledon came to No. 102 Dustin Brown, No. 144 Nick Kyrgios, No. 135 Steve Darcis and No. 100 Lukas Rosol. He meets No. 137 John Millman on Monday.

7) Stan Eyes Career Slam: No. 5 seed Stan Wawrinka would become the oldest first-time No. 1 in ATP World Tour history and complete a career Grand Slam by winning Wimbledon. The two-time quarter-finalist is one of five men in the Open Era to capture every Grand Slam title except Wimbledon. The others are Ivan Lendl, Ken Rosewall, Guillermo Vilas and Mats Wilander

8) Historic Run: Djokovic entered 2016 Wimbledon as the first man to win four consecutive Grand Slam singles titles since Rod Laver in 1969. However, Djokovic’s 30-match win streak at Grand Slams ended with a third-round loss to Sam Querrey.

Djokovic won the Eastbourne title on Saturday against Gael Monfils. He will try to become the first player to win ATP and Grand Slam titles in consecutive tournament weeks since Patrick Rafter swept Long Island and the US Open in 1998.

9) Lopez Rolling at 35: Feliciano Lopez leads all players with nine wins in 10 matches on grass this season, capturing the biggest title of his career at the Aegon Championships one week after reaching the Stuttgart final. The 35-year-old Spaniard is appearing in his 62nd straight Grand Slam main draw. Federer holds the all-time record at 65, a streak that ended at 2016 Roland Garros.

10) Sascha Seeks Breakthrough: Alexander Zverev, who was born in 1997, beat Djokovic at Rome on 21 May to become the first Masters 1000, Nitto ATP Finals or Grand Slam champion born after 1988. The No. 10 seed, however, has not reached the fourth round in eight prior Grand Slam appearances. Zverev and his older brother, No. 27 seed Mischa Zverev, are the first brothers to be seeded at Wimbledon since No. 4 Sandy Mayer and No. 6 Gene Mayer in 1982.

11) #NextGenATP Watch: The field features 14 #NextGenATP players, who were born in 1996 or later and have broken into the Top 200. Zverev leads the way with an 1,835-point lead in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan. The Top 7 finishers in the race will qualify for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in November. Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who won the 2016 Wimbledon junior title, is the youngest player in the draw at 18. Former World No. 2 Tommy Haas, 39, is the oldest.

12) Doubles No. 1: As in singles, there is a race at Wimbledon for World No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings. Current No. 1 Henri Kontinen and former No. 1s Marcelo Melo and Jamie Murray could leave the All England Club atop the rankings. Among the scenarios:

– Kontinen will remain No. 1 if he and John Peers reach the final.

– Melo will return to No. 1 if he and Lukasz Kubot reach the final.

– Murray will return to No. 1 if he and Bruno Soares win the title, but only if Kontinen/Peers lose before the semi-finals and Kubot/Melo lose before the final.