An Early Look At Wimbledon Favorites

While the first-round Wimbledon matchups are yet to be released with the draw to be released soon, we look forward to the 2021 version of the most famous and prestigious Grand Slam in tennis. Tennis fans and punters were denied their Wimbledon fix in 2020 with the cancellation of the tournament due to pandemic restrictions and will be eagerly awaiting the return of grass court action to SW19 in 2021.

While the strawberries and cream are being trucked into SW19, we consider the leading betting favorites in the 2021 Wimbledon Championships for both men’s and women’s singles champion. Leading betting sites suggest that the old guard will grab the respective men’s and women’s Wimbledon crowns, however, there is a rising crop of young players looking to dethrone the battle-hardened favorites that will be difficult to contain.

Women’s Singles Leading Contenders  

Since 2000, Serena and Venus Williams have won an incredible 12 Wimbledon titles between them. However, since Serena’s maternity break in 2017, women’s Grand Slam action has become notoriously unpredictable with 10 different women winning the 14 Grand Slam events since the beginning of 2018.  Regardless, with Serena’s power game ideally suited to the slick Wimbledon grass courts, the 39-year-old is on the third-line of betting to finally succeed in her quest for an elusive 24^th Grand Slam title.

Considered outright Wimbledon 2021 favorite, Naomi Osaka, with two wins apiece at the U.S. Open (2018 & 2020) and the Australian Open (2019 & 2021) knows what it takes to win a major.  However, her previous Grand Slam wins were on hard courts and Naomi’s recent mental fragilities stand between her and adding her name to the Wimbledon winners roll.

With the best slice backhand in the business, 2019 French Open Champion, Ashleigh Barty is second favorite. If she can overcome hip injury sustained at the most recent French Open, the abovementioned backhand is perfectly suited to setting up aggressive net approaches and banging home easy volley winners. Barty is mentally tough, highlighting her ability to frequently pull her through difficult matches and if her much-vaunted serve happens to break down.

Best of rest, is Petra Kvitova, with the veteran Czech arguably a grass court specialist having won the Wimbledon title in 2011 and 2014. Her powerful and deeply swinging left hand serve opens up the Wimbledon grass courts nicely and make her a dangerous opponent that no one enjoys facing.

Halep, Andreescu, Muguruza, Sabalenka, Swiatek and the newly-crowned French Open Champion, Barbora Krejcikova are all not without their chances to succeed, but will need to show more on the Wimbledon grass than the clay and hard-court specialists have in the past.

Men’s Singles Leading Contenders

Reigning men’s Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic is clearly the man to beat after his astonishing French Open win takes him another step towards a calendar Grand Slam and equaling the all-time Grand Slam record of 20, currently jointly-held by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. While clearly the best hard-court player in the world, with 9 Australian Opens and 3 U.S Championships, the Serb is no slouch on the grass either having won an amazing 84% of his grass court matches and 5 Wimbledon crowns overall. However, the pathway to victory is littered with contenders.

Second favorite, and almost everyone’s sentimental favorite, Roger Federer, recently pulled out of the 4^th round of the French Open to give his 39-year-old body more time to prepare for the grass court season. If his knees allow him to, Federer has his eyes set on Wimbledon and success at SW19 could provide the fairy tale swansong to the great man’s career.

Breaking up the ‘Big 3’, Russian World Number 2, Danni Medvedev is third-favorite for Wimbledon, but history is against him. Australian Lleyton Hewitt was the last man other than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray to win Wimbledon and that was way back in 2002. That said, Medvedev has won more than 60% of his grass court career matches, although a best-ever 3^rd round at Wimbledon suggests it might not be his favorite surface.

After his epic semi-final loss to Djokovic at his beloved Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal recently opened up on possible retirement plans and Wimbledon provides another opportunity for the Spaniard-4^th-favourite to go out on his terms. Currently tied with Federer for most Grand Slam wins, Rafa said recently; “I have never hidden the fact that I would like to retire as the best in history and as the player with the most Grand Slams”. That kind of motivation makes Nadal a danger, even on grass.

Watch for dangerous floaters in the draw like Tsitsipas, Zverev, Thiem, Raonic and Kyrgios, but as ever, the ‘Big 3’ loom large in the Wimbledon picture.