Tennis Betting Advice - July 2026
Ones to Watch in Washington at 12/1 and 16/1...
Monday 27th July 2026
The tours have landed in the States this week. The hard-court run-up to the US Open starts here…
The Mubadala DC Open is the big event first up. This joint ATP & WTA 500-grade tournament starts from 4pm today, UK time. Live on Sky Sports.
Having perused the draws and prices, as ever, here are my initial selections for Washington:
In the men’s field, you could make a justified case for a whole raft of guys...
Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Jack Draper, and Learner Tien are all Ones to Watch regulars. Those four are in the top half of the ATP Washington draw.
The bottom half houses the likes of Frances Tiafoe, Ben Shelton, Ugo Humbert, and the bookies’ outright favourite – Arthur Fils.
One I like from the off is JAKUB MENSIK at 12/1. Sticking with our Czech-talent theme, young Jakub has already won a title bigger than this on North American hard courts (ATP Masters 1000 at Miami last year). The 20-year-old is tall, and a big server. Nick Kyrgios has won this title twice before; evidence there of a tall, big server doing well on these DC courts.
Playing off a new career-best ranking of no.11 in the world, Mensik holds a pro-level hard-court match win percentage of 70%. That’s a number I like very much.
The Czech’s biggest hurdle may come early on this week. Reigning DC champion Alex De Minaur is a potential 3rd-round opponent. The Aussie world no.6 holds a 5-1 head-to-head record over Mensik. However, Jakub won their most recent contest (albeit on clay). And more significantly right now perhaps, is the fact that this will be De Minaur’s first competitive outing since marrying fellow tennis player Katie Boulter at the end of Wimbledon this month. Mensik may arrive with his head more in the game, and I prefer the young gun’s double-figure odds to the single-digit 13/2 (7.5) price for Alex.
In the WTA Washington event, De Minaur’s new wife Katie Boulter (50/1) is in the same side of the draw as the player I’m interested in, EMMA NAVARRO at 16/1…
The American has been putting her form back together this summer. A Top 10 player not that long ago, Emma is currently at no.26 in the world. Bouncing back after some health issues, a positive grass-court season saw Navarro rack up some much-needed back-to-back match wins, including a run to the final in Nottingham last month.
In the 2024 season, Navarro posted a 32-14 campaign on outdoor hard courts (70% - that number again). And if I’m right in seeing a return to form in the second half of 2026 – Emma went on to make the US Open semi finals at the end of that 2024 summer – then the quietly determined 25-year-old could prove one to watch in the States this week, and in the weeks ahead…
The icing on the cake for me with this pick is that Navarro has a winning head-to-head against two of the big names in her side of the women’s Washington draw, Naomi Osaka (2-0) and Elina Svitolina (1-0). Those two are seeded 3rd and 2nd here, respectively. Top seed Jessica Pegula is the 12/5 (3.4) favourite to win the title that she also won back in 2019. Navarro can’t meet Jess until the final.
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Ones to Watch picks:
See above for full details
Outright Winner – Each Way (1/2 odds 1-2 places)
ATP Washington – Mubadala DC Open:
WTA Washington – Mubadala DC Open:
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P.S
There are two other tournaments on this week – ATP Los Cabos, and WTA Memphis. If any players and prices catch the eye in those over the next day or two, I’ll be back in touch.
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Oliver Upstone