Tennis Betting Advice - April 2022
Wimbledon early-bird at 40/1...
Friday 22nd April 2022
We had a couple of close ones go against us this week. On Wednesday, Iga Swiatek had set point – in both sets – to land the 6-0 ‘bagel’ correct score. The world no.1 got to 5-0 and 40-30 on both occasions. But lowly-ranked opponent Eva Lys just about held on to get herself on the scoreboard. You can’t get much closer to a pair of 4/1 winners. Final result: Swiatek won 6-1, 6-1.
Then, on Thursday, this week’s two Each Way outsider bets for WTA Stuttgart both fell in the Last 16 – and both in matches that went the distance to three sets. The returning-from-injury Bianca Andreescu (28/1) was beaten 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 by world no.4 Aryna Sabalenka. And 50/1 underdog Ekaterina Alexandrova was edged out in a final-set tiebreak by world no.6 Anett Kontaveit, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.
Being on the edge of results like that usually means we’re in the right ballpark. We shall go again in next week’s tournaments.
Wimbledon early-bird at 40/1…
Our Ones to Watch betting also involves getting on promising players and prices, nice and early. With all that’s been going in the tennis world (and beyond) recently, there’s one player I want to get in the book today. As an early-bird Wimbledon contender at odds of 40/1 or 33/1…
Last summer we were on Ons Jabeur for Wimbledon at 40/1. The Tunisian had just won a first WTA title, on grass at Birmingham. Ons went on to give a very good account of herself, reaching the quarter finals at SW19. Along the way, Jabeur beat three Grand Slam champions and two former Wimbledon winners – Swiatek, Garbine Muguruza, and Venus Williams.
As I said of Jabeur, on day one of Wimbledon last June:
Odds of 40/1 appeal to me here - I was expecting to see her a little shorter, given the wide-open nature of the sport right now ... She reminds me a bit of Marion Bartoli – long-time readers will remember the Frenchwoman winning Wimbledon at rank outsider odds back in 2013. Jabeur possesses a similar blend of power and grace, craft and class.
Since that quarter-final run on the hallowed turf, Ons has become a Top 10 player. She’s still waiting for a second WTA title to come along. But she’s getting close again. After a slow start to 2022 due to injury, Jabeur reached the final at Charleston this month.
Make the most of the circumstances…
The super-talented 27-year-old was already going to be on my shortlist for Wimbledon this year. But in light of recent events, I’m a little surprised that Jabeur’s price hasn’t been chopped yet…
She can be backed at 40/1 and 33/1. Those odds haven’t changed since the start of the season. Yet since January, the then women’s world no.1 – and reigning Wimbledon champion – Ashleigh Barty has announced an early retirement from the sport. Leaving a big hole at the top of the rankings, and also in all of the fields and markets for the 2022 Grand Slams.
With the default favourite gone, that opens up the Wimbledon list – in a climate where the women’s Majors are already producing big-odds finalists almost every time…
For example, there’s been one Grand Slam event so far in 2022, and it was won by Barty – with Danielle Collins a 100/1 runner-up. Last season, the US Open AND the French Open finals were comprised entirely of women that started those events priced at 100/1 or bigger (!). Those four names being Barbora Krejcikova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Emma Raducanu, and Leylah Fernandez.
Add in this week’s controversial Wimbledon announcement that players from Russia and Belarus will be banned from the 2022 tournament. That instantly rules out last year’s semi-finalist Aryna Sabalenka, among several others.
With all of that going on, Jabeur at 40/1 & 33/1 Each Way is a name that jumps off the ante-post betting list for me right now.
The Tunisian went played 12 won 10 on grass last season. On the overall pro career stats, Ons’ match win-loss record stands at won 49 lost 16. That’s a super 75% grass-court win ratio that really catches the eye. Let’s get her in the book today.
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Ones to Watch picks:
Outright Winner – Each Way (1/2 odds 1-2 places):
Wimbledon 2022 – Women’s
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I’ll be back next week with more big-odds picks for you.
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson