It looks like being a dry day to get Wimbledon 2017 underway on Monday as the grass courts at SW19 see play for the first time this year. As is tradition the men’s champion will open up proceedings on Centre Court and there are a whole host of great players dotted around the grounds on the first day.
Whether you are a follower of the big names or just the British stars there are plenty of courts being screened and streamed this year so we can keep up to date on the lot of them.
Centre Court
Andy Murray gets the honour of opening the tournament on Centre Court for the second time in his career. He takes on the lucky loser Alexander Bublik before the former ladies champion Petra Kvitova faces Johanna Larsson. The final match on the court sees Stan Wawrinka in action. He plays the Next Gen star Daniil Medvedev.
Court 1
There are former winners and Brits wherever you look on Court 1 on Monday too. Venus Williams gets play underway when she faces Elise Mertens before Rafael Nadal takes to the court. His opponent is John Millman and then Jo Konta will close off play on this court when she faces Su-Wei Hsieh in the first round of a second Grand Slam in a row.
Court 2
There are four matches on this court on Monday with two Britons in action on it. One of them is first up when Cameron Norrie faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga before Simona Halep faces Marina Erakovic. Marin Cilic plays Philipp Kohlschreiber in a tasty looking third match before the Eastbourne semi-finalist Heather Watson meets Maryna Zanevska.
Court 3
The line up on this court isn’t bad either. Nick Kyrgios gets things underway against Pierre-Hugues Herbert before Ashleigh Barty faces Elina Svitolina in one of the matches of the first round. Ivo Karlovic and Aljaz Bedene meet in the third match before French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko begins her campaign against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Best of the Rest
With more courts done up this year the talent is spread much wider so those who have a ground pass have the chance of watching some great players on the outside courts. Kei Nishikori is in action on Court 12 while Laura Robson and recent Ricoh Open winner Gilles Muller are on Court 18.
Sam Querrey, Fabio Fognini, Sabine Lisicki, Elena Vesnina and Roberto Bautista Agut are just some of the seeds dotted around the smaller courts on what looks a tasty opening day.
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Men’s Betting
I’m going to begin things with a few bets. There are three I fancy in the men’s draw. First up it is hard to ignore the form of the Russian player Karen Khachanov. He first came to light in the French Open when he took care of Tomas Berdych and John Isner before giving Andy Murray a game and more recently he made the semis at Halle where he challenged Roger Federer. His form is good unlike that of his fellow Russian and opponent Andrey Kuznetsov who has barely won a match in two months. Khachanov is on the up and can come through with plenty in hand there.
While that is going on I am expecting a tough match between Denis Shapovalov and Jerzy Janowicz. There isn’t going to be much in the way of service breaks in this match. Both rely on their heavy serves and both back it up with solid strokes so we are looking at sets going deep here. It would be a surprise if either won this in straight sets so if it goes four then with the number of tiebreaks that is likely 42.5 games can comfortably be covered.
If the occasion of being on Centre Court for the first time doesn’t get to Daniil Medvedev then he has the tools to take care of Stan Wawrinka at a tidy price. It is well known the Swiss star doesn’t like this surface and his only match on it this year saw him lose in the first round to Feliciano Lopez at Queens. Medvedev made the quarters there and the semis in Eastbourne. He has beaten Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson and Nicolas Mahut on the grass this season and while Wawrinka is a leve above those usually he may not be on this surface. The Russian is standout value there.
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Women’s Betting
Moving over to the women and I wouldn’t normally touch British women with a bargepole but I do sense there is a bit of inspiration taken from what Jo Konta has achieved recently and as such I am going to back two of them on Monday – Laura Robson and Naomi Broady.
Robson faces a Beatriz Haddad Maia who I took on in the first round of the French Open and will do so again. There is little to suggest the Brazilian is comfortable on grass while the surface is Robson’s best one with her serve and groundstrokes. Robson hasn’t been winning many matches recently but she did win a minor event in Japan not so long ago and with the inspiration of being at Wimbledon and the crowd behind her she’s value in this one.
Broady faces Irina-Camelia Begu who is playing her first match on grass this year. She hasn’t won a competitive match since Madrid a couple of months ago. Broady ran Kristina Pliskova close at Eastbourne and usually plays well at Wimbledon. I fancy she can outhit her rustier and potentially less comfortable opponent.
Tips
Back K.Khachanov (-1.5 sets) to beat A.Kuznetsov for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfred
Back him here:
Back D.Shapovalov vs J.Janowicz – Over 42.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 2.02 with Unibet
Back it here:
WON – Back D.Medvedev to beat S.Wawrinka for a 3/10 stake at 3.50 with Bet365
Back him here:
Back L.Robson to beat B.Haddad-Maia for a 3/10 stake at 2.90 with Betfair
Back her here:
Back N.Broady to beat I-C.Begu for a 4/10 stake at 2.30 with Boylesports
Back her here:
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