There were two must-watch women’s semifinal matches on Thursday at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, but the biggest news of the day came out of the men’s draw: Rafael Nadal, chasing his third consecutive Grand Slam title to start the season, withdrew from his semifinal match. Nick Kyrgios wins in a walkover and will now face the winner of Novak Djokovic and Cameron Norrie on Friday.

In the women’s draw, Ons Jabeur defeated Tatjana Maria, her longtime friend and first-time Grand Slam semifinalist, in an up-and-down three-set affair. Elena Rybakina scored a somewhat shocking straight sets victory over 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep in the other semifinal. Let’s have a look at out Wimbledon Betting update for the weekend action.

Must Bet Men’s Semifinal and Women’s Final Matches | Wimbledon Betting Update

Must Bet Matches

• Elena Rybakina (+130) vs Ons Jabeur (-150)

Jabeur feels as though she’s a player of destiny right now. She’s been having a great career and is one match away from becoming the first Arab (man or woman) in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam. What a moment it would be for tennis globally. 

• Novak Djokovic (-1400) vs Cameron Norrie (+800)

It’s almost impossible and certainly somewhat foolish to bet against Djokovic at Wimbledon, but this has been a wild tournament on the men’s side. While the path is clear for The Joker to win his fourth consecutive Wimbledon and 21st Grand Slam, don’t be surprised if Norrie, with the support of the home crowd, pulls off a major upset.

Favorites

Ons Jabeur has been one of the top betting favorites to win the Wimbledon women’s draw since the beginning of the tournament so she’s naturally the favorite heading into the final against Elena Rybakina. The Tunisian has won 22 of her last 24 matches and is having a career-best season.

Djokovic opened the tournament at -125 and has maintained the top betting favorite throughout Wimbledon. With Nadal gone, likely Djokovic’s biggest threat to winning Wimbledon for the fourth consecutive year, he’s the clear betting favorite. Kyrgios, however, has been gaining momentum among bettors.

Upsets

The first women’s semifinal went as expected, with Jabeur becoming the first Arab woman to qualify for a Grand Slam final after beating 34-year-old Tatjana Maria, who was ranked world No. 103 prior to the tournament and a longshot to make it this far.

However, few people saw Rybakina’s dominant straight set victory over Simona Halep coming. Halep hadn’t lost a set through her first five matches, but lost 6-3, 6-3 to Rybakina.

Injuries

Nadal’s departure is incredibly shocking, even though he hinted during his quarter-final post-match interview that he would have to take some time to determine if he was healthy enough to play. He suffered the injury in the first set of the match, but still fought through the pain and rallied to win what’ll now be remembered as one of his greatest victories at Wimbledon.

It’s a tough day for Nadal and tennis fans worldwide. Nadal was two victories away from his third Grand Slam of the year and would have been a favorite at the US Open. Here’s hoping he’s healthy enough to compete in New York in August.

However, it’s a great story for Kyrgios, who had advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal and will now be playing in his first career Grand Slam final. Nadal and Djokovic would have been a dream final, but Kyrios and Djokovic, or even Kyrgios and Norrie is somewhat appealing.

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