Get the strawberries and cream out, Day 1 of Wimbledon is here featuring the likes of Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu. See our Wimbledon betting previews here.
Best Bet
A huge grass court run by the Brazilian with a 12-1 record heading into Wimbledon. Haddad Maia faces Kaja Juvan – an opponent she has beaten twice across her career including covering the 4.5 game handicap in their most recent encounter back in 2019.
The Slovenian has played very little grass court tennis over the last couple of years, and had her troubles in the lead-up losing both matches to lower ranked opposition. Haddad Maia won’t have any troubles covering the 4.5 game handicap to kick off her tournament.
Next Best
He’s certainly not the same player he was when he won Wimbledon in 2016, but Andy Murray’s lead-up form has been brilliant in which he’ll be ready for the Centre Court spotlight against James Duckworth.
Murray made the Final at Stuttgart in the lead-up accounting for both Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios, going down to Matteo Berrettinin in three sets. As for Duckworth, only last week he recorded his first win since last year taking his record to 2-9 for the year. The Aussie will be no match for Murray in front of this British crowd on the opening day.
Another veteran up against an Aussie with Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, whose leftie serve-volley game is tailored for the grass courts. Need to look past his clay form in the lead-up – he’s always been poor on the red dirt, with grass clearly his best surface emphasised by his Semi Final run at Hertogenbosch in the lead-up.
Max Purcell is his first-round opponent coming through the qualifiers ranked 156th in the world, and has done little damage against opposition in the top-100 – he’s 0-4 in 2022 winning just the one set. The experience and grass court nous of Mannarino should see the Frenchman cover the 4.5 game handicap.
A rare Yanina Wickmayer sighting, with the 32-year-old Belgian laughing her way through qualifying and will face 98th ranked Zhu Lin.
Wickmayer’s booming serve has seen her reach a Round of 16 at Wimbledon – although this was 11 years ago, she has still made it to at least the second-round in her last three attempts. With Zhu winning just won her of last eight grass court matches dating back to 2019 including two straight set losses in the lead-up, we should see the veteran Belgian cruise through covering the two game handicap.
She pulled off a major upset in the first round of the French Open defeating 2021 Champion Barbora Krejcikova, and 19-year-old Diane Parry could do something similar against 37-year-old Kaia Kanepi.
Kanepi’s record at Wimbledon across her career has been quite underwhelming with an 11-12 record – the worst of her four majors across her long career. From her last four Wimbledon’s, Kanepi has only advanced to the second-round once and with an underwhelming lead-up this certainly won’t be a close encounter. Take the +5 game handicap for the Frenchwoman, with $4.40 head to head great value.
Value Bet
So we’re doing this – we’re betting on a Fabio Fognini match. He’s certainly past his prime slipping to 62 in the world, but when the Italian is on he’s capable of anything.
Surprisingly Fognini has made the third-round in his last four Wimbledons, saving his best work for the big stage. His opponent is Tallon Griekspoor who has had a great lead-up, and although the Dutchman beat Fognini at the Australian Open at the start of the year, the $1.35 is simply too short against someone with Fognini’s tricks. Definitely don’t go overboard on this, after all we are betting into a Fognini match, but worth a small play.
Daily H2H Multi
Mannarino / Hurkacz / Murray / Kecmanovic / Haddad Maia / Kostyuk = $4.65