OTW Extra Email Archive - January 2019
A huge 120/1 shot for Wimbledon…
Monday 28th January 2019
In your Ones to Watch EXTRA email today:
One to Watch for Wimbledon…
The dust has barely settled on the first Grand Slam of the year in Australia, but today we’re moving straight on from the hard courts of Melbourne to the green, green grass of Wimbledon…
Back in 2014 we were rewarded for getting on early when we backed Eugenie Bouchard for Wimbledon at 50/1. She went off at 25/1 when the tournament began, and went on to reach the final for a half-the-odds Each Way payout.
Bouchard was a former Wimbledon Girls’ champion. Today’s early-bird selection also has that piece of Junior form by her name…
Junior champion rising again…
Belinda Bencic featured in our Ones to Watch in 2017 list. She suffered a bad year with injuries that season. But has worked her way back on the WTA tour since then, culminating in a run to the WTA Luxembourg final in October 2018, as a 50/1 outsider. She followed that up by winning a lower-tier Las Vegas event in November.
This Swiss player has been talked of as a big future name in the game for some time now; Belinda is still only 21 years of age (turns 22 in March) but it seems like she’s been around for ages. With form and fitness on her side, she can yet go on to fulfil that early promise…
Bencic has made a good start to 2019, winning the non-ranking Hopman Cup international team event alongside Roger Federer for a second year running. She followed that up with a semi final showing in her first tour appearance of the season at WTA Hobart.
At the Australian Open this month Bencic ran into a red-hot Petra Kvitova in the 3rd Round. Kvitova went on to reach the final without dropping a set.
At Wimbledon last summer, Bencic got to the 4th Round – one win away from the quarter finals – only to be edged out by Angelique Kerber, 6-3, 7-6. Kerber went on to lift the trophy.
120/1 is huge…
Wimbledon has always been the Grand Slam where Bencic is expected to do best. As well as a Junior title at SW19 in 2013, and that 4th Round run last year, Bencic also made the 4th Round in 2015. She also won WTA Eastbourne on grass in 2015, the week before Wimbledon. The gap in-between 2015 and 2018 is accounted for by injury layoffs & recovery (didn’t play Wimbledon 2017).
With that grass-court pedigree in mind, odds of 120/1 Each Way for Wimbledon 2019 look huge…
I’ve been doing this long enough to know the feeling when a that’s-too-big price pops up on my screen. As soon as the Australian Open ended at the weekend I went to take a look at the general spread of Outright Winner prices for the year’s three remaining Grand Slams. This Wimbledon price jumped right out at me.
That 120/1 eye-catcher is available with 888 Sport, Unibet and 32Red Sport (three online firms all powered by the same odds-engine).
Elsewhere, William Hill make Bencic a 33/1 shot for Wimbledon. She’s 40/1 and 50/1 in general. With Paddy Power and Betfair Sportsbook the next highest at 80/1.
It seems 888 Sport & co are not keen on Bencic’s chances at the Grand Slams: they are also a top price 200/1 for Bencic for the French Open and 400/1 for the US Open, when the markets in general have her in the 66/1 – 100/1 bracket.
Right now that Wimbledon price in particular looks the one to snap up…
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson