Sports Blog 29/06/2015: Tennis Preview – Wimbledon, Monday 29th June to Sunday 12th July 2015

The world’s greatest tennis tournament begins this Monday as Wimbledon 2015 gets underway!

Spreadex will be offering in-play fixed odds and spread betting opportunities throughout Wimbledon, as well as long-term offers for the entire tournament. These include our Outright Index for both Men’s and Women’s Singles, where the winner gets 60 points, the runner-up 40 points, with the losing semi-finalists nabbing 20 points apiece; the losing quarter-finalists then get 10 points, the losing last 16-ers get 5 points whilst everyone else gets a big fat zero.

Men’s Singles

Leading the charge on the men’s side of the tournament is world no. 1 Novak Djokovic. At an Outright Index spread of 34-37 and fixed odds of 13/10, the big Serb sits atop both of those lists, and is favourite to retain the title and become Wimbledon champion for a 3rd time. Victory in the Australian Open and a shock defeat in the French Open final, alongside a slew of other ATP world tour titles, means Djokovic is going to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in fantastic form. His first game against world no. 33 Philipp Kohlschreiber shouldn’t pose too much of a threat, and he sits at a Djokovic/Kohlschreiber Match Supremacy spread of 20-22.



Just behind Djokovic is the man he has thwarted in both Grand Slam tournaments this year: Andy Murray. The Scot lost the Australian Open final to the world no. 1 back in February before losing his French Open semi-final in 5 sets at the start of June. Yet victory at Queen’s, the 4th of his career (and tying the record for most single’s titles at the Club) means Murray is going into Wimbledon on a high, and the fact that he won’t meet Djokovic until a potential final leaves him at an Outright Index spread of 28-31 and fixed odds of 5/2; his first game is against Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin.

Currently back at world no. 2, Roger Federer is aiming for a record-breaking 8th Wimbledon title and his first since 2012. 2015 has seen the Swiss legend reach his 1000th career win; however, in Australia and France he struggled, slipping to a 3rd round exit in the former before losing his quarter-final in the latter. Yet a few wins at various tour tournaments across the last 6 months shows there is still plenty of fire in Federer and going into his 1st round match against Damir Dzumhur he has an Outright Index spread of 20-23 with fixed odds of 11/2.



If there is a time for Federer’s fellow Swiss countryman to win Wimbledon, it might be this year. At 30 Stan Wawrinka’s career has sparked into life fairly late on; his first Grand Slam title came in 2014 in Australia, before wins against Federer, Tsonga and Djokovic in the final saw Wawrinka claim his first French Open victory. His best result at Wimbledon came last year as he slipped out to his doubles partner Federer in the quarter finals; Wawrinka will be desperate to capitalise on his current success this year, and has an Index spread of 12.5-15.5 and is at 14/1 to take the title. His first test will be against Joao Sousa, and the world no. 4 is at a Wawrinka/Sousa Match Supremacy spread of 17.5-20.5.

A bit further down the pecking order than he would like sits Rafael Nadal, at an Outright Index spread of 10-13 with fixed odds of 12/1. After failing to win the French Open for only the 2nd time in 11 years, Nadal has struggled this season, with victories in the Mercedes Cup and the Argentina Open hardly compensating for quarter-final exits in both of the year’s Grand Slam tournaments. A 4th round win is the bar Nadal needs to clear to beat his finish last year, and he starts his tournament against Brazil’s Thomaz Belluci.

Women’s Singles

Like the men’s draw, there is a clear favourite going into the women’s singles tournament: Serena Williams. Williams has been dominant this season, and could be on track to complete the first women’s singles Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988. Her victory in the French Open saw her break clear of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for the second most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era with 19 titles; her Aussie Open win then saw her climb to 20 titles, and only 2 behind Graf’s 22. Williams has an Outright Index spread of 32-35 with fixed odds of 13/10; going into her 1st round match she also has the advantage, at a Williams/Gasparyan Match Supremacy spread of 18-20.



Last year’s Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is behind Williams with an Index spread of 18.5-21.5 and fixed odds of 9/2. Kvitova will be looking for her 3rd Grand Slam title, but after a disappointing 3rd round exit to Madison Keys in the Australian Open and a 4th round defeat at the French Open she is without a strong run in any of 2015’s majors. Her 1st round match is against the Dutch Kiki Bertens, and the 2014 champion has the advantage at a Kvitova/Bertens Match Supremacy spread of 14.5-16.5.

Looking for her first Wimbledon title in over a decade, Maria Sharapova is at an Outright Index of 14-17 with fixed odds of 15/2. A 4th round exit last year was a disappointment, and means the Russian hasn’t reached a Wimbledon don final since 2011 after winning the tournament in only her 2nd appearance in 2004. Sharapova’s form has been mixed in 2015; an Australian Open final was her first since 2012, but she slipped to a French Open 4th round exit after winning the Roland Garros in 2014. She faces Britain’s no. 2 Johanna Konta in the first round, and has a Sharapova/Konta Match Supremacy spread of 13-16.



The young Romanian Simona Halep is next, at an Outright Index spread of 9-12 with fixed odds of 14/1. Halep reached the semi-final at Wimbledon last year, the closest she has come to a Grand Slam title bar her final defeat in the 2014 French Open. She is currently ranked 3rd in the world, despite a quarter-final exit in Australian and an incredibly disappointing 2nd round defeat in the Roland Garros. Her first test will be against Jana Cepelova, and she sits at a Halep/Cepelova Match Supremacy spread of 15-17.

Rounding out Spreadex’s women’s singles Outright Index top 5 is Victoria Azarenka, at a spread of 7.5-9.5 alongside fixed odds of 14/1. Despite currently being ranked 24th in the world, this still is a remarkable comeback for Azarenka, whose list of injuries had led her to drop to no. 50 following the Australian Open after she lost to Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round. However she has gradually climbed up the rankings since then and will be seeking to beat her 2011 and 2013 semi-final appearances at Wimbledon; she begins her journey against Anett Kontaveit, and is favourite at a Azarenka/Kontaveit Match Supremacy spread of 13-16.