The most famous tennis courts in the world open their doors for the first time in two years as the stars of the game head to SW19 in London to compete at Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam on the tennis calendar.
With the entire grass court season postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, Novak Djokovic finally gets the chance to defend the title he won in epic style in that remarkable final with Roger Federer in 2019.
Recent Winners
2019 – Novak Djokovic
2018 – Novak Djokovic
2017 – Roger Federer
2016 – Andy Murray
2015 – Novak Djokovic
2014 – Novak Djokovic
2013 – Andy Murray
2012 – Roger Federer
2011 – Novak Djokovic
2010 – Rafael Nadal
The Format
We have the same format in use that was put in play for the first time in 2019. That sees a tiebreak in play in the final set of the match but unlike a normal set the breaker doesn’t come until the score reaches 12-12. The tournament has a pre-drawn bracket and is a knockout event right from the start with every match being the best-of-five sets from start to finish. The champion will be crowned on the second Sunday of the tournament when the final takes place on July 11.
Top Quarter
The defending champion and world number one Novak Djokovic is the star attraction in the top quarter. He will go after three Wimbledon titles in a row from this section and has been placed in a quarter with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Cristian Garin, Gael Monfils, Diego Schwartzman, Jannik Sinner, Fabio Fognini and Andrey Rublev as the other seeded players. You would have to suggest there aren’t many seasoned grass court campaigners in that list of names which should help Djokovic.
There are a few household names or seasoned campaigners in among those who are not seeded in this section. They include the former finalist Kevin Anderson, the mercurial French player Benoit Paire, Jiri Vesely, Marton Fucsovics, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Pablo Cuevas. There is also British eyes on this section of the draw as the wildcard Jack Draper, who dumped Jannik Sinner out of Queens, is in this quarter, although given that he has drawn Novak Djokovic in the first round he might not be in it for long.
Second Quarter
The French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas is the highest seed in the second quarter of the draw. He doesn’t really have much pedigree on grass so the other players in this section will fancy their chances of a decent fortnight. The other seeds in this quarter are Karen Khachanov, British number one Dan Evans who will be hoping for a decent run in his home Grand Slam, Eastbourne winner Alex de Minaur, the exciting Denis Shapovalov, Nikoloz Basilashvili, Reilly Opelka and the 2019 semi-finalist Roberto Bautista Agut.
One man stands out among those who are unseeded in this tournament who are in this second quarter. That is a certain Andy Murray, while John Millman has pulled off some big Grand Slam results in his time. Sebastian Korda has won on the ATP Tour this season and he is in this quarter, as is the former Queens champion Feliciano Lopez. Jay Clarke is another Brit to keep an eye on in this section while Frances Tiafoe could be dangerous.
Third Quarter
Grand Slam finalist Alexander Zverev is the top seed in the third quarter. He is another leading seed who doesn’t have the greatest reputation on grass so he too could be a little vulnerable in this draw. He has been joined in the seeded department by Taylor Fritz, Halle champion Ugo Humbert, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Casper Ruud, Aslan Karatsev, the player who made that bit of Wimbledon history with that epic with Nicolas Mahut more than a decade ago in John Isner and the Queens champion Matteo Berrettini.
This is a quarter with some star names in among the unseeded fraternity within it. The biggest of those names is a certain Nick Kyrgios who is a danger to anyone in the draw on this surface, albeit he hasn’t played a great deal since the pandemic hit. 2019 quarter finalist Guido Pella is in this quarter as are the likes of Jeremy Chardy, Kei Nishikori, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Steve Johnson and Tennys Sandgren who previously went well at the Australian Open in the past.
Bottom Quarter
The king of Wimbledon, Roger Federer, isn’t the top seed in the bottom quarter but he is certainly the standout name in it. The highest ranked player in this section is the Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev who comes in here having won the title in Mallorca last week. The other seeds in this part of the draw include the British number two Cameron Norrie, Eastbourne finalist Lorenzo Sonego, Pablo Carreno Busta, Hubert Hurkacz, Grigor Dimitrov and the former finalist Marin Cilic who already has a grass court title to his name this year.
As with the rest of the draw, there are plenty of unseeded players who catch the eye in this quarter as well. Jan-Lennard Struff has been playing well recently while Alexander Bublik has a game which should be suited to grass. Mallorca finalist Sam Querrey is also in this part of the draw and he has gone well here in the past. French trio Lucas Pouille, Richard Gasquet and Adrian Mannarino have also won a few matches here throughout their careers.
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Outright Betting
To be honest, Novak Djokovic looks pretty hard to oppose in this draw but in Covid-19 times I’m not rushing to back anyone at odds on regardless of how good his chances are. I’m also not going to take him on so any outright bets are going to come from the bottom half of the draw so that we at least have a payout secured should we lose to the Serb in the final. There isn’t a whole lot I like in the bottom half either in truth but I’ll take my chances with one.
I would have been all over Matteo Berrettini but the price on him has quite rightly crashed since he won Queens. Roger Federer hasn’t been a double figure price here for years but it probably does reflect his inactivity and while nothing he does ever surprises me, it would take a huge effort for him to make the final here. That leaves me looking much further down the market until we get to the former finalist Marin Cilic who is always a danger on grass. He won the tournament in Stuttgart a few weeks ago and looked to be following that up with a decent effort at Queens until he ran into Alex de Minaur in the quarter final. Given that de Minaur won at Eastbourne last week that doesn’t look a bad result right now. We know from the past that Cilic loves Wimbledon and he is still the second to last player not named Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray or Wawrinka to win a Grand Slam title. If he can start the week serving well and keep it going throughout he could run deep.
Quarter Betting
I was looking for someone to take in the third quarter and whittled it down to the winner of the Nick Kyrgios and Ugo Humbert match but I can’t decide who I think will win that so I’ll wait and see who it is and then look to get stuck in there. I’m not opposing Djokovic in the top quarter and already have Marin Cilic in the bottom quarter so that leaves the second quarter where Stefanos Tsitsipas and Roberto Bautista Agut look worth taking on to me.
I think it is worth taking them on with the Eastbourne champion Alex de Minaur. It might be that the Australian would have had grass titles in successive weeks if he hadn’t run into the cannonball serve that Matteo Berrettini was using at Queens where the two met in the semi-final. Prior to that encounter, de Minaur had beaten the former Queens winner Marin Cilic as well as John Millman. He doesn’t have an easy first round game in Sebastian Korda but if he comes through that this quarter could open up quickly and he feels a big price at 11/1.
Tips
Back M.Cilic to win Wimbledon (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 67.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back A.de Minaur to win 2nd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 12.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
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