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Djokovic says not among favorites at Wimbledon, backs Federer

[June 22, 2018] (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic does not consider himself among the favorites at next month's Wimbledon and shares the popular view that defending champion Roger Federer is likely to win a record ninth trophy at the All England Club.

The Serbian, who is making a comeback from a long-term elbow injury, claimed his first victory over a top-10 opponent since last May at Queen's Club on Thursday as he thrashed Grigor Dimitrov to reach the quarter-finals.

The 12-times grand slam champion won the most recent of his three Wimbledon titles in 2015 and believes it is too soon to think about a fourth trophy at the elite tournament.

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves too early. I'm definitely not one of the favorites for Wimbledon," Djokovic told British media.

"Roger is the clear favorite without a doubt. (Rafa) Nadal maybe hasn't played well at Wimbledon by his standards, but he's won it several times. He's definitely one of the candidates to win the title."

World number two Nadal, who last won the Wimbledon title in 2010, will enter All England Club without any competitive matches on grass this year after the Spaniard withdrew from the Fever-Tree Championships.

Djokovic also backed two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, who returned from a year-long injury layoff at Queen's Club but fell to a hard-fought defeat by Australian Nick Kyrgios, to make an impact.

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Switzerland's Roger Federer in action during the final against Canada's Milos Raonic REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

"Andy (Murray) and myself if we play well (can be contenders). We dropped in the rankings, but Andy played really well against Nick Kyrgios here," Djokovic added.

"He has home support, things can go in a good direction if he plays well at Wimbledon."

(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

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