After a year away, the third Grand Slam of the year begins on Monday as the great and the good of the tennis world head to southwest London for Wimbledon.
Centre Court: ready for action
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The Championships missed out last year due to the pandemic but one of the most iconic fortnights in the global sporting calendar is back and everyone at SW19 will want to make up for lost time.
No Way You Can Look Past Novak
Novak Djokovic is the massive favourite in the men’s draw and it is tough to see anything other than him claiming a 20th Grand Slam title.
With no Rafael Nadal or Dominic Thiem around, Djokovic has been further shortened to just 10/13, with the market next stretching to the 7/1 price shared by Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Djokovic’s hopes are probably heightened by the fact that neither of those two – as of yet – have shown any real flair for playing on grass. Tsitsipas has also not played since losing to Djokovic from two sets up in the final of the French, while Medvedev was last seen falling to Jan-Lennard Struff in the opening round in Halle.
A look at the recent list of winners shows that you have to go back to Lleyton Hewitt in 2002 for the last man to take the tournament, who wasn’t one of Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer or Andy Murray.
Federer and Murray have been working together in the build-up and are 9/1 and 80/1 in the betting but it is tough to see either of them going all the way this year. However, with no Dominic Thiem around, another clay-court specialist might be one to watch.
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini is handily seeded seventh and will not be frightened by his draw. Alexander Zverev, another player still to really get going in his career on the turf, is his most likely quarter-final opponent, as he aims to kick on from his last eight outing at Roland Garros.
Side With Experience in the Women’s Draw
Like the men’s draw, the women’s field has some big name absentees. The defending champion from 2019, Simona Halep, is absent through a calf injury, while Naomi Osaka has withdrawn for personal reasons.
Can that open the door for Serena Williams to finally match Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam crowns? The American is 11/2 to win an eighth Wimbledon title, and first major since the Australian Open in 2017.
That puts her ahead of 13/2 Ashleigh Barty in the betting and the world number one is another still to prove herself on grass.
The same can be said for a number of the women’s contenders with none of 10/1 Aryna Sabalenka, 14/1 teenager Cori Gauff or 14/1 Iga Swiatek having made it past the fourth round previously at SW19.
After no grass action last year and limited build-up to this year’s Wimbledon, it could therefore pay to side with the experience of Williams and fellow past champions Petra Kvitova and Garbine Muguruza, both at 14/1.
Familiar Faces Provide Value
There is value elsewhere in both the men’s and women’s draws for those who like a bit more juice in their odds.
One to watch in the men’s tournament could be Kei Nishikori and he seems to have put his fitness problems behind him after twice going to five sets at the French Open.
The Japanese reached the quarter-finals at SW19 in both 2018 and 2019 and, while his 66/1 odds show where he is in the pecking order, he could go under the radar, with seventh-seeded Berrettini the best player he will meet if they both make it to the fourth round.
As far as the women’s draw goes, the value has to be with Jelena Ostapenko. Admittedly, her grand Slam form isn’t great, falling in the first round of both the Australian and French Opens.
However, she is a previous Wimbledon semi-finalist and as she showed in winning the French in 2017 that when she is on, she is really on.
Ostapenko comes into the tournament in form having won the Eastbourne International and her 30/1 seems highly generous.
*All odds correct at time of writing