Although Iga Swiatek is red-hot winning her last 35 matches including the French Open, the grass courts could be the Pole’s undoing with plenty of value around her.
Champion
A disappointing outing at the French Open losing in the first-round has provided Ons Jabeur an extended grass court lead-up which may work out perfectly for the Tunisian.
Was victorious in Berlin in the lead-up with wins over Coco Gauff and Belinda Bencic, and off the back of her Quarter Final appearance last year which included wins over Iga Swiatek and Garbine Muguruza, this is the world number three’s best opportunity of a major.
Runner Up
Will be a matter of time for when 18-year-old Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff starts winning majors, and I expect her to be around the mark once again at The Championships.
Coming off her first Grand Slam Final at the French Open, Gauff will be playing at Wimbledon for the third time across her career reaching the Round of 16 on both occasions – the first time as a 15-year-old. Has shown immense improvement since last year’s loss to Angelique Kerber, expect a deep run from Coco.
Semi Finalists
A name the seeds just don’t want to be near in the draw – Bianca Andreescu’s body has let her down over her short career, but she enters Wimbledon in good touch reaching the Final at Bad Homburg.
Easy to forget that Andreescu is only 22 years of age, plus the fact she’s got a major under her belt winning the 2019 US Open as a 19-year-old.
Expect the Canadian to do some damage in the first quarter of the draw, which could include French Open Champion and $2.75 Wimbledon favourite Iga Swiatek, with the grass courts certainly not in the Pole’s favour.
No doubt you’re probably asking “who?” but Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia has moved to 29 in the world off the back of 22-3 stretch since the start of May and has been crunched into sixth line of betting at $21.
Most of the 26-year-old’s damage has been done on the grass courts with a 12-1 record entering Wimbledon, including wins in Nottingham and Birmingham, while reaching the Semi Final at Eastbourne.
Haddad Maia has claimed some scalps too – Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova and Maria Sakkari have fallen victim to the left-hander, and historically it appears she’s very comfortable on the grass. In 2019 she had a 6-2 record on grass including a first-round win over Garbine Muguruza at Wimbledon. A huge opportunity for the Brazilian in the weakest quarter of the draw.
Roughies
While Haddad Maia has been the wildcard that has emerged pre-tournament identified by the bookies, Alison Van Uytvanck has gone slightly unnoticed, also putting together a strong lead-up.
The Belgian has a 12-2 record on grass this year – her two losses were third set tie-breakers against top-25 opposition in Aryna Sabalenka and Amanda Anisimova.
Made the Round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2018, while in 2019 she ran into Ash Barty in the second-round, and drew world number 5 Elena Svitolina last year in the first-round, going down in three sets. If she can knock off Brit Emma Raducanu and take the 10-seed draw for the tournament, we could see a quarter final run for the Belgian.
The fourth quarter is the weakest part of the women’s draw with Anett Kontaveit one of the worst #2 seeds in recent memory.
With this in mind, 25-year-old Anhelina Kalinina could feature in the second-week at The Championships currently listed at $251. The Ukrainian ranked 36 in the world was a Quarter Finalist at Eastbourne in the lead-up including a victory over Maria Sakkari – one of the main dangers in the fourth quarter. Don’t be surprised if we see Kalinina up against Haddad Maia in the Round of 16.
