American and world No. 1 Serena Williams might be the greatest women’s player of all-time in tennis. But Serena hasn’t won a major yet this year — a pretty big drought for here. Will that change at Wimbledon? The grass-court major begins Monday in England and Serena is the +135 favorite on betting lines.
Taking a Look at Why Serena Williams is One To Beat On Betting Lines For Wimbledon
Serena’s last major title was at Wimbledon last summer. She beat Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-4 to win the tournament for a sixth time — at the time, she then was the reigning champion in all four Grand Slam events, the so-called “Serena Slam.” At 33 years, 289 days Williams became the oldest female grand slam champion. Williams finished the fortnight with 80 aces.
Serena was stifled going for the calendar-year Grand Slam at last year’s U.S. Open and suffered one of the big upsets ever. Serena has just one title in 2016 but a 24-4 record. She lost in the final at the Australian Open to No. 7 Angelique Kerber of Germany in three sets. That made her the first German woman to win a Grand Slam since Steffi Graf won her last one in 1999. Kerber had to save match point against the world No. 64 Misaki Doi in her first contest of the tournament. Williams, 34, failed in her bid to win her seventh Australian Open and equal Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles. It was the American’s 26th appearance in a slam final, the German’s first.
And then at the French Open, Williams was beaten by Muguruza 7-5, 6-4 in the final. Muguruza, then ranked No. 35 and now No. 2, needed only 64 minutes to record her first victory against a top-eight opponent and hand Williams her most lopsided loss at a major. Williams looked flat and never found her rhythm, finishing with 29 unforced errors and only eight winners while failing to win a point at net (0-for-5). Serena lost five consecutive games after holding to open the match, and she didn’t have a break point in the first set. Williams quickly fell behind two breaks at 3-0 in the second set. Serena was broken five times and won only 17-of-31 (55 percent) first-serve points.
Serena hasn’t played in a tournament since. Muguruza is the +550 second-favorite at Wimbledon. She also beat Serena in the 2014 French Open. Muguruza’s preparations for the grass court grand slam have not gone according to plan, though, as she was knocked out in the first round of the grass-court warm-up Mallorca Open by Kirsten Flipkens. Last year, Muguruza came close to being beaten in the second and third round by Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Kerber, but she managed to stave off elimination and went on to stun Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals to become the first Spanish woman to make it to the final of Wimbledon since Conchita Martinez in 1994.
Petra Kvitova is the +650 third-favorite. She has won this tournament twice, in 2011 and 2014. Kvitova has been troubled by illness, personal setbacks and a 10-month title drought.
“I love playing on grass, especially at Wimbledon, and have great memories,” Kvitova said. “It’s kind of my style of the game playing on this.”
Victoria Azarenka is the only other player under +1000 as she’s +800 to win. She has yet to reach a Wimbledon final.
Expert Betting Prediction
If Serena is healthy, she’s still the choice on betting lines. Might be wise to wait until after the draw, however, to place your bets.
