Too keen to cut Scot down to size

John McEnroe has gone from enfant terrible on the courts of the world to eminence grise off them, so it's worth listening to him on the question of which man will win Wimbledon this year.

A three-time winner himself, including the dethroning of Bjorn Borg in 1981, McEnroe said there were six men in the field who could win next week on Sunday. He wouldn't go further, except to virtually write off Andy Murray.

"I think it's amazing that he reached No1," the Superbrat told the London Sunday Times.

Today Murray is still No1 and still defending champion, but each round of Wimbledon brings new anxieties for those who love and admire the grim Scot. And how can you not admire a man whose nerve held, along with his classmates, when he was just a small boy hiding under a desk in Dunblane as a mad gunman killed 16 pupils and a teacher in the nearby gymnasium.

McEnroe probably understands what makes Murray tick, and also what makes him unlikely to win again. This is McEnroe being generous towards Murray: "Considering the obstacles, the competition that he was up against, I think that's tremendous [reaching No1]. That's part of why he's struggling now. It took such an effort to get there, I think even he was shocked."

Who, then, are McEnroe's other five? Three of them are among the greatest five tennis players who ever lived: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The other two? It can no longer be Stan Wawrinka, the world No3 and a winner of three grand slams, who lost to Danil Medvedev of Russia on Monday.

The sixth McEnroe leaves to our imagination. It would have been tempting to suggest Alexander Zverev, the youngest of the top 20 in a sport dominated by men in their 30s. He has the face of a choirboy and the physique of a basketball player (1.96m, or six-foot-six). Only four players in this year's draw are taller, with Ivo Karlovic, 38, topping them all at 2.11m. Being tall can help in tennis; Karlovic holds the world record of 12000 aces.

Standing tall at Wimbledon does not mean walking tall. Karlovic lost an epic five-setter on Monday to Aljaz Bedene, 11 years his junior. It lasted four hours and 25 minutes, contained four tiebreaks with the only break coming in the 62nd game of a 399-point match.

The last really tall man to win Wimbledon remains Richard Krajicek in 1996 and he was an inch shorter than Zverev.

McEnroe's other contenders could be Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic and Milos Raonic. But the sentimental favourite, even for McEnroe, will always be the Fed. If he wins next week Federer, 35, will become the oldest Wimbledon champion - a record that has stood since 1975 when 31-year-old Arthur Ashe won. That would be a record that could last forever.