Djokovic A Solid Favourite To Retain Wimbledon Title

Novak Djokovic will be fresh from his French Open defeat, as he bids to win a third Wimbledon title.

The Tournament
The world’s oldest Grand Slam event is the centrepiece of the short grass court season, and comes just three weeks after the French Open, giving little time for players who reached the latter stages at Roland Garos to recover from their exertions. Roger Federer and Pete Sampras hold the record of seven men’s singles titles.

The Green, Green, Grass of SW19
At the start of the Open era, three of the four Grand Slams were played on grass, but the popularity of the surface has been in steady decline, and we are now reduced to one Major and a handful of ATP tour events, which means few top players can afford to specialise. It is the fastest surface used in tennis, with the lowest bounce, so suits big servers, and those who can get to the net quickly can still prosper.

Who To Avoid
Andy Murray’s 2015 resurgence will encourage many punters to back the home favourite to win his second Wimbledon title. But although the main obstacles en route to the final appear to be an out-of-sorts Rafael Nadal and a fading Roger Federer, neither can be written off.

And even if he gets to face Djokovic in the final, it should be remembered that Murray has lost all four encounters with the world number one this year. At 10/3 he looks too short.

Recommended Bets
You might fear that Novak Djokovic’s gruelling French Open campaign and eventual disappointment would take a while to get over, but he recovered from a similar experience last year to win his second Wimbledon title and having not played since his Paris defeat, he will be fresh.

Although he is drawn to meet his French Open conqueror in the semi-finals, Stanislas Wawrinka doesn’t pose the same threat on grass. At 7/5, Djokovic is a solid favourite.

After last year’s heroic run to the final, this is likely to be Roger Federer’s last chance to win his eighth Wimbledon title. He heads to London following victory in Halle, his fourth title of the year, and on his best surface he still has the beating of all the top players, with the possible exception of Djokovic. He has a great chance of reaching the final and at 7/1 is worth backing to create history.

The final name to add to your shortlist is rising star Nick Kyrgios. He enjoyed a breakthrough season last year, reaching his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Wimbledon beating Rafael Nadal along the way and becoming the first debutant to reach the last eight since 2004. After another quarter-final, at the Australian Open, his season was interrupted by injury, but he should be fresh for the third Grand Slam of the year, and at 80/1 he’s worth backing each way to get to the final.

*Prices correct at time of publication.