The Wimbledon 2018 bookie report: Day one

Shahida Jacobs
July 2, 2018

The 132nd edition of Wimbledon is about to get underway with the likes of Roger Federer and Serena Williams set to play on the opening day.

The first few days of any tournament rarely offer any value on the betting market unless you can find one or two realistic outsiders.

Sebastian Sternik takes a look at a couple of bankers and a couple of outsiders as we try to beat the bookies.

Bankers
Finding a favourite at a profitable price at this stage of the competition isn’t easy but, perhaps one Lucas Pouille could help us out. The Frenchman is set to make his fifth consecutive appearance at the All England Club and will take on Denis Kudla in his first game.

There was pressure on Pouille at the French Open and the world number 20 failed to deliver, bowing out of the competition in only the third round. Despite that, he is a favourite to win against this wildcard and at 8/13, there is room for a small profit.

Another potential banker is Shuai Zhang. The Chinese No 1 is 21/20 to win her first-round game against Andrea Petkovic. Zhang is certainly not known for her grass tennis. Her record on this surface is far from admirable however, Petkovic hasn’t set the world alight either. Last year the German fell to her worst ranking since 2012 (97) and hasn’t won on grass all season.

Outsiders
Serena Williams is a tennis great and will forever be considered as a legend of this sport. However, with Arantxa Rus currently 9/1 to eliminate the seven time Wimbledon champion, you simply have to take a chance.

Rus has earned some good results on grass and with this being Williams’ first game back since her French Open injury, we could be looking at our first big giant slaying of the tournament.

Over in the men’s draw, Evgeny Donskoy is a 4/5 shot to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber. The German is looking to avoid his fourth successive first round exit at Wimbledon and things certainly haven’t gone to plan in the tournaments leading up to this grand slam.
While Kohlschreiber remains the favourite, Donskoy cannot be ignored. The Russian hasn’t enjoyed a great run of results either however, as the world number 83 he has little to lose against his 34 year old German opponent.

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Grand Slams Wimbledon