ESPN

The Fourth of July is approaching, and with it, the annual reminder of how close we all came to being subjected to cricket. But in the fortnight leading up to our fireworks comes an event we get to share with our British brethren (no, it's not hosted by Simon Cowell). Beginning bright and early Monday morning, Wimbledon is back.

ESPN.com's tennis experts made their picks on both the women's side and the men's side (before No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal withdrew), but based on performance in conversations, we nominate wmarcello to represent SportsNation.

Take it away, old boy. Jolly good show.

Men's Draw
Early Exit: Novak Djokovic. He seems very dejected recently and is too prone to mental lapses. He also seems to have a hard time coming from behind and grinding it out on any off days he might have. He showed some signs of recovering in his warm-up tourney when he saved five match points against Florent Serra to reach the quarters, but his inconsistency showed in the final against Haas.

Sleeper: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He has too many weapons and too much game to completely ignore. His problem is his consistency, but he's more than able to make a good run. If Tsonga is too high a seed to be considered a "sleeper," honorable mentions go to some of the better grass-court players picked by the experts in Ancic and Lopez. You can throw Berdych into that group as well.

Winner: It's hard to pick against Federer right now. With no monkey on his back, he should be able to somewhat relax and play his game. We all know he wants No. 15 and Wimbledon back so motivation is not a problem for now. -- wmarcello

Early Exit: Svetlana Kuznetsova. Even though she won Roland Garros, she wasn't immune to her common mental lapses. Her first round exit at the hands of Aleksandra Wozniak in the warm-up tourney does not bode well for her. If she can get through the first couple rounds she will be on better footing, but she is not coping well with the transition from clay at the moment.

Sleeper: Maria Sharapova. She's shown time and time again that she can mentally will her way through matches she probably shouldn't be winning. With the state of the women's game right now, wanting it is a big part of the battle.

Winner: Venus Williams. One of the few players with an actual grass-court game, she is definitely the favorite to win. In the topsy-turvy world of women's tennis nothing can be even close to guaranteed, but she's a better bet than most. -- wmarcello

• SportsNation Overall Men's Pick: Roger Federer | Women's Pick: Serena Williams.