Wimbledon 2016 Preview

WIMBLEDON 2016

The oldest tournament in the sport’s history has finally bestowed itself on us.

With the Serbian Bullet Train Novak Djokovic surging past every challenger in front of him and Serena Williams reaching the Grandslam finals of Australia and French of 2016 already, can we expect any surprise packages this year?

A brief look at the hot candidates for this year’s Grass Court Major in London – Wimbledon.

WOMEN:

Favourites:

Serena Williams and Muguruza

Considering the form and consistency, both these players are the right favourites especially with no Azarenka or Sharapova to worry about. Serena is priced just under 3.00 on Betfair Outrights while Mugu has odds close to 7.
Looking at the draw, I must say that there is more reason to back Mugu than Serena as the American has some tough opposition in her side of the draw with a likely early encounter against a tricky Mladenovic, then Kuznetsova who has already beaten her this season and later Radwanska or Kvitova before reaching the final. Mugu’s main threats come from Madison Keys or Kerber.

Outsiders:

Kvitova, Keys and Radwanska

Even with Kvitova’s poor form, it must be said that she steps up her game on Grass and has already won twice here at Wimbledon. She can do it again, provided she believes in her ability.

In my opinion, Madison Keys is really the player to watch out at this year’s Wimbledon. The American has been touted as a future Grandslam winner by many pundits over the years. With the Serena era slowly coming to a close, America’s hope will heavily rely on Keys in the coming years.

Radwanska’s nemesis is usually endurance. Not only did she choke big time at the French Open against a huge underdog like Pironkova, she repeated that just a few days ago at Eastbourne by losing to Cibulkova from another winning position. The Pole simply cannot continue that pattern if she is to have any chance here.

Dark Horses + High Value Bet:

Considering they like playing on Grass with the added good form, I find a lot of value on Vandeweghe and Konta who are priced just over 50 on the Betfair Outrights.

Two huge outsiders who are priced with odds of 1000 that I consider huge talent are Anett Kontaveit from Serena’s draw and Carina Witthoeft from Muguruza’s section.

PREDICTION:

Muguruza is truly playing some amazing tennis at the moment and should be given every chance to upset Serena. However, unlike the French Open final, serve is going to have more effect on Grass. Assuming Serena gets past her earlier rounds without too many sets lost, I feel the American should win this major. If she spends too much energy in early rounds, I would rather stick with the Spaniard Garbine Muguruza.

If I were to pick one, I would go for the experience of Serena Williams to come through as this is after all one of her most successful Grandslam tournaments.

WINNER: SERENA WILLIAMS

MEN:

Favourites:

Djokovic and Murray

With Federer already losing to players like Thiem and Zverev on his favourite surface in recent weeks, I cannot see anyone putting on a show against Djokovic other than Murray. The two right favourites on paper without a doubt!

Outsiders:

Federer and Raonic

I don’t believe Roger is a good bet in this tournament considering his injury issues. However, Raonic looks like the only player who may have a slight chance to knock out Djokovic in the top half of the draw. Odds of just above 20 on him is worth a calculated punt.

Dark Horses:

Dominic Thiem’s form is simply too hard to ignore. I’m giving him a chance here with odds of 65 on Betfair. The other best punt could be Tomas Berdych with odds of 200 which looks quite high considering he has lost only to Federer at the Australian and to Djokovic at the French this season.

High Value Bet:

Unlike the Women’s draw, there isn’t many out there in the Men’s draw who can genuinely upset the odds on favourite, Djokovic. If anyone can do it through pure serving, that has to be John Isner who already has 2 wins against the Serbian. Odds of over 300 may prove to be value.

PREDICTION:

This is really not much of a prediction as everyone already knows Djokovic is the man to beat in any tournament at this moment.

Can he do it? Odds of under 2.0 on the Betfair Outrights pretty much says
he can and will continue to dominate he rest of the season.

WINNER: NOVAK DJOKOVIC!

Thanks for reading..

Patrick Ross