Wimbledon Preview 2015

With the sun back at South London, will Roger resolve his Grass burden?
Will Novak defend his crown this time, for Stan The Man is in his prime.

For Nadal, Grass seems a Casino Royale,
And for the Scot Murray, the crowd just go ‘Hooray’, don’t they!?

I didn’t write that, I swear!! A brief look at this year’s Wimbledon..

WOMEN:

FAVOURITES: Serena, Kvitova, Sharapova & Halep

Unfortunately for Maria Sharapova, she is yet again on the same side of the draw as her nemesis Serena Williams. If indeed they end up colliding, Serena to survive that war in my opinion.

It hasn’t been Halep’s best year, but she possesses the talent to knock out anyone on her day. The surprise for Serena though, may come from the big serving Czech, Petra Kvitova who is a seriously tough Grass courter and the defending champ here at SW2.
Personally, I would love to see that final but have to say that I still fancy Serena coming out on top, considering her brutal form at the moment.

IN WITH A CHANCE:

If Serena goes out early, a few players other than the above mentioned favourites who have a decent chance to reach the final are Azarenka, Stephens, Wozniacki, Safarova, Kerber and Bacsinszky.

While Aza’s form is good, her fitness levels are still a matter of concern. For Stephens and Wozniacki, it’s pretty much about consistency while Safarova, Kerber and Bacsinszky all look very good bets. If I were to choose one player out of these three, I would go for the German Kerber as her form this year has been amazing!

OUTSIDERS:

The best outsiders in my opinion are Kuznetsova for her unpredictability, Madison Keys for her massive serves and Makarova for her experience. Also worth a mention is the Australian Casey Dellacqua who looked rather impressive in recent grass tourneys.

NOT SO GOOD BETS:

Aga Radwanska and Lisicki are two poor bets for me for the simple reason that their form is on and off at the moment. Personally, I am a huge fan of Sabine Lisicki and would love to see her win, but I just can’t see her holding on to her confidence, as she tends to crack rather quickly when things go wrong.

WINNER :

Kerber may sneak in with a chance, Kvitova may indeed be in the final, but one thing is for sure, Serena Williams absolutely adores Wimbledon where she has won 5 times.

I must go for the World No.1 to make this her 3rd Grandslam of the year!

MENS:

FAVOURITES: Djokovic, Murray and Federer

The form of all three players is good enough that I feel one of them has to win this time! However, the draw seems to favour Djokovic the most, as Murray, Nadal and Federer are all in the bottom half of the draw. The Serbian should at least reach the Semi’s here!

In relation to Roger, odds of 8 on him look a bit high considering his form on Grass is pretty good and that he only lost to eventual champ Stan Wawrinka at the French. Also, considering the great man lost in the final in a gruelling 5 setter last year, he must be thirsty enough to amend his errors this time.

The best bet could be Andy simply due to his form. However, I am not sure how this draw will turn out as Murray actually has a rather tough draw with Tsonga/ Karlovic and then Nadal waiting for him.

IN WITH A CHANCE:

STAN THE MAN:

No denying that Stan Wawrinka’s win over Djokovic was no fluke at the French. He’s no more an outsider and should be the 4th or 5th favourite for every tournament for the next year or so. If he can continue his good serving and brutal backhands, Stan could indeed be the Man this year!

NADAL? MAYBE?

Well, fact is that Rafa is priced at around 30 on Betfair for this tournament which seem rather high. However, considering that this has been one of his worst seasons ever, he may indeed find it hard to win this one with possible fitness issues concerning him as well.

But then, he’s one of the greatest ever, so you never know. If anyone can, he can. That’s a MAYBE then for me!

Nishikori, Stan and Raonic look the next 3 players who have a chance of making something happen. I’d probably go for Nishi out of these 3.

HEAVY OUTSIDER BETS:

My two best tips as heavy outsider bets are on John Isner and Gilles Muller.

This may look like a bad bet as John hasn’t had a good history at Wimbledon (apart from his 1 billion year long match against Mahut!). However, truth of the matter is that he is a great server on a fast surface like Grass and even though he may end up facing Novak Djokovic rather early in the tournament, it’s worth noting they have never met on this surface. There is an element of unpredictability here. Obviously he may still lose to players like Nishikori or Cilic before meeting Novak, but with odds of over 300, a couple of quid is worth an investment I feel.

Muller, on the other hand, has been good in terms of form and even dominated the first set against Andy Murray at Queens. If he can somehow get past Andy this time, the door could be wide open for the big serving lefty.

WINNER:

I must say I am really not sure how this Wimbledon may pan out as Stan Wawrinka is a concern for Djokovic and Nadal may show some brilliance if he meets Andy Murray.

After careful thought, I suggest backing Roger here as this could be the great man’s last chance to win another Wimbledon on his favourite surface!

Thanks for reading!

Patrick Ross