The opening day of Wimbledon 2021 sees a packed schedule on the lawn courts at SW19 as the third Grand Slam of the year gets underway in London. Unfortunately the outside courts might be affected by a forecast which contains rain but the two show courts both have roofs so we will be guaranteed some action.
As is tradition the men’s champion begins his title defence on the opening day of the Championships so we have Novak Djokovic on a schedule which also includes the likes of Andy Murray, Aryna Sabalenka, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Petra Kvitova and plenty more star names!
Centre Court
Wimbledon is now the only Grand Slam which doesn’t have a night session so there are just three matches on the Centre Court on the opening day. We start off as ever with the men’s defending champion which means that Novak Djokovic will take to the court. He meets the British wildcard Jack Draper before the sole women’s match on this court on the first day. That sees the former champion Petra Kvitova meeting the former US Open champion Sloane Stephens in one of the best matches in the first round on paper. The Centre Court schedule concludes with the home hero Andy Murray on show. He meets Nikoloz Basilashvili for a place in the second round.
Court 1
There is a decent schedule over on Court 1 on Monday as well, one which again only sees three matches scheduled despite the roof that is on this court. We begin with the leading women’s seed on show on Monday in Aryna Sabalenka. She faces up to the challenge of Monica Niculescu before a very attractive men’s match comes onto court as the French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas goes up against Frances Tiafoe. It is the former French Open champion Iga Swiatek who closes the show on this court when she meets Su-Wei Hsieh.
Court 2
If you have a ticket for Court 2 then you are in for a decent day if the rain stays away. The former ladies champion Garbine Muguruza gets the action underway. She plays Fiona Ferro before one of the stars of the ATP season takes to the court as Andrey Rublev goes up against the dogged Federico Delbonis. British interest comes along in the third match on this court on Monday when their number one Dan Evans takes on the former Queens champion Feliciano Lopez before another former winner here Venus Williams closes off the schedule when she takes on Mihaela Buzarnescu.
Court 3
The schedule isn’t too bad out on Court 3 either on Monday with the British qualifier Katie Swan first up when she faces the experienced and powerful Madison Keys. The former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin meets the qualifier Xinyu Wang of China. Two men’s matches finish off the schedule on this court. The first sees the British wildcard Liam Broady taking on former French Open semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato before Denis Shapovalov will look to bring his entertaining game out onto court to meet Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Best of the Rest
Plenty of courts are up and running on Monday which means there are a lot of seeds and big names out around the grounds for those with ground passes and the relevant streaming options to watch those courts. 2019 semi-finalist Roberto Bautista Agut, Gael Monfils, Karolina Pliskova and Maria Sakkari are all on show on Court 12 while Jannik Sinner, Fabio Fognini and Elise Mertens are over on Court 18. Jessica Pegula, Karen Khachanov, Ons Jabeur, Alex de Minaur and Elena Rybakina are some of the other seeds who are on show.
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Men’s Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets in the men’s draw on Monday with the first of those right from the start of the day where Denis Kudla looks overpriced to see off Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Kudla but he has made the second week here in the past and he has come through qualifying for this event. Prior to that he lost to Frances Tiafoe in the final of one of the Nottingham Challengers and beat Kevin Anderson in the other so he can play on the lawns of SW19. Grass court prowess is something the Spaniard doesn’t have and he pulled out of Eastbourne last week with a back injury which was said to be so bad he couldn’t even put his socks on. He’ll do well to have recovered fully in such a short space of time so I like Kudla in this one.
Stefanos Tsitsipas was slated to play Halle in the lead up to this tournament but his heartbreaking defeat to Novak Djokovic in the French Open final saw him pull out of that event and this will be the first time he’s been on grass for two years. That should play into the hands of Frances Tiafoe, who is limited in terms of weapons against the top boys, but who has won a Challenger at Nottingham this month and made the quarter finals at Queens. He’s had enough time on the grass this season to at least keep Tsitsipas honest in this match if he doesn’t actually get the better of him.
Women’s Betting
I’ll also go with a couple of speculative bets at decent prices in the women’s draw. Tamara Zidansek had the fortnight of her life at Roland Garros where she made the semi-final and while that came at the end of a decent clay court season and she might not be as suited to grass as she is the dirt, I still think there is an ounce of value in her to beat Karolina Pliskova. I’m not sure it is ideal that the Slovenian hasn’t played on the grass this season but then I don’t believe it is particularly beneficial to have played twice on the surface and lost both matches like Pliskova has done. Pliskova has a huge serve which should serve her well here but the courts are likely to play slow on Monday having not been used for two years and that might suit Zidansek. It is a speculative play but against a Pliskova who has lost four of her five matches, I think there is juice in riding the confidence of Zidansek here.
I was always going to take Iga Swiatek on in the opening round of this tournament after she confessed to Andy Murray on Twitter during the French Open that she doesn’t feel good on the grass, a strange comment given that she won the juniors here in the past. As it happens her run at Eastbourne last week only strengthens my will to take her on. She beat Heather Watson in the first round but didn’t really impress and then got demolished by Daria Kasatkina in the second round. In Su-Wei Hsieh, the Polish clay court specialist faces a very similar opponent to the Russian so it doesn’t bode well that Kasatkina won the last two sets against Swiatek 60 61. Hsieh made the quarter final in Australia earlier in the year where her slices and different game was bamboozling players left right and centre. When you consider those slices and fancy shots will stay really low on this court she looks a nightmare matchup for Swiatek. The 4/1 on Hsieh to win looks a little too big here.
Tips
Back D.Kudla to beat A.Davidovich Fokina for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back F.Tiafoe (+6.5 games) to beat S.Tsitsipas for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Coral
Back him here:
Back T.Zidansek to beat K.Pliskova for a 2/10 stake at 3.50 with BetVictor
Back her here:
Back S-W.Hsieh to beat I.Swiatek for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with Bet365
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