‘Djokovic, Barty and Osaka are the top favourites to win Gold at the 2020 Olympics’: Todd Woodbridge

Top-ranked tennis players Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty come into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as the strong favourites to win their first ever Gold medal.

The Wimbledon champions are also seeded No.1 for the mega event, and will be under enormous pressure to represent their respective nations.

Speaking to Ausopen.com, former doubles legend Todd Woodbridge feels the Serb is going to be the overwhelming favourite to go all the way.

“Novak sees it as an opportunity to really cement himself as the greatest of all time by potentially winning a ‘Golden Slam,’” Woodbridge said.

“I would have thought his absolute goal was to win the Grand Slam first, because he’s been to an Olympics and he has a medal …and that would definitely set him apart from anybody and any other achievement in the men’s game. But to try to do the five (events), I think is very ambitious. If there’s anyone who can do that, then it is Novak.”

“He is by far the favourite – it’s about how he recovers mentally and physically from Wimbledon. Given the way he’s trained and the way his routines are, he’ll do that well. I don’t foresee anybody really beating him at this particular point,” the Atlanta 1996 gold medalist further added.

The Australian legend also shared his thoughts on his countrywoman Ash Barty and the Japanese sensation, Naomi Osaka.

Woodbridge fancies Barty v Osaka shootout

“Barty and Osaka are clearly the best two players over the past two-and-a-half years; between them they’ve now won six majors. And that would be the match-up that we all would probably expect, and like, to see.”

“I think for Naomi, coming back in this environment is actually quite smart, because she’ll be heavily protected from the things that have worried her within the media. Although there’s the pressure of playing for your nation, I think no crowds and those types of things make for a gentle easing back in to playing.”

While Djokovic has already tasted success at the Olympics by winning the Bronze medal, the likes of Osaka and Barty are yet to win any medal at the mega event in their careers.

Also read: ‘Try and Try again,’ Andy Murray shares what his daughter told him after his Wimbledon loss