What’s the story?
With less than 10 days to go before Wimbledon 2017 commences, the bookmakers have revealed their favourites to win the tournament. And on a rather surprising note, French Open champion Rafael Nadal has been billed as the fourth favourite with odds of 11/4 by betting website, Stan James.
Andy Murray, who has not been very consistent this year, has been touted the favourite to win the tournament by bet365 with odds of 11/2. The second most favoured player to win the most prestigious Grand Slam of the year is seven-time champion Roger Federer who has been given odds of 3/1 of winning the tournament by Betfair.
Novak Djokovic received odds of 11/2 of winning his fourth Wimbledon title by betting site William Hill. Outside the big four, the player with the best odds of winning the title is last year’s runner-up Milos Raonic at 14/1 followed by 2014 Wimbledon quarter-finalist Nick Kyrgios.
Rome Masters champion Alexander Zverev, who is currently in the final of the Halle Open, was backed with odds of 25/1 while French Open runner-up Stan Wawrinka has not found much favour with the bookmakers with odds of 28/1 mainly because he hasn’t done well on grass.
In case you did not know...
Rafael Nadal had an injury-laden season in 2016 but made a dramatic comeback this year by winning three clay-court titles and reaching the finals of the Australian Open and the Miami Masters. His win at the French Open propelled his ranking to World No. 2, his best since 2014.
The two-time Wimbledon champion will be playing his first match on grass since 2015.
Also read: Wimbledon seed not a motivating factor for imperious Federer in Halle
The heart of the matter
Both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal made splendid comebacks this year with the former dominating the summer hard-court season en route to winning his fifth Australian Open title before winning both the Indian Wells and Miami Masters. Nadal, on the other hand, was sublime during the clay-court season as he clinched his 10th titles at the Monte-Carlo and Madrid Masters. The Spaniard completed his third La Decima of the year by winning the French Open without dropping a single set throughout the tournament.
Andy Murray has not been in the best of form this year and had a disappointing run which came to a halt at the French Open where he reached the semi-finals before losing to Stan Wawrinka in five sets. Novak Djokovic also hasn't had the best of years but is gradually improving and reached the quarter-finals of the French Open before bowing down to Dominic Thiem. As a result, his ranking dropped and the Serb now sees himself at number four, his lowest since 2009.
What’s next?
The Big Four will now be gearing up for the upcoming Wimbledon which starts in nine days where they are seeded amongst the top four for the first time since Wimbledon 2014.
Author’s take
The fact that Nadal has not played a single match at grass courts since 2015 may be the main reason why the bookmakers placed him below his fellow Big Four members but those numbers are not even close to denying that The King of Clay will be a heavy favorite to win the Wimbledon, especially after he won the French Open in such remarkable fashion.
Also read: Roger Federer says Andy Murray's reign as No. 1 at risk
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