With two-time defending women’s singles champion Serena Williams absent from this year’s field, the Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova has emerged as the betting favourite to claim this year’s Wimbledon crown at +500 odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Kvitova lost just one set en route to a championship victory as a +450 wager at this month’s Aegon Classic Birmingham, and is pegged as the No. 11 seed going into Monday’s first-round action of the 2017 Wimbledon Championship at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London.
The 27-year-old was bounced from the second round at the French Open, and has failed to make it past the fourth round in nine of her past 10 Grand Slam tournament appearances. However, she hopes to recapture the magic that led her to Wimbledon women’s singles titles in 2011 and 2014.
Fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova closely trails Kvitova at +550 on the WTA tennis odds for Wimbledon, followed by Garbine Muguruza at +900, while Johanna Konta joins Venus Williams at +1200.
Pliskova solidified her position at No. 3 on the WTA rankings by reaching the semifinals at Roland-Garros this spring, and has claimed two tournament victories this season, at the Brisbane International in January and the Qatar Total Open a month later.
Muguruza sits near the top of the odds despite failing to win a tournament this year, with her last victory coming at last year’s French Open. However, the 23-year-old reached the final at Wimbledon in 2015, and exited in the quarter-finals at this year’s Australian Open.
Konta has tallied a pair of tournament victories this year, at Miami and Sydney, but has never advanced past the second round in five Wimbledon appearances, while Venus Williams tries to put off-court distractions aside as she pursues a sixth career Wimbledon crown.
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In gentlemen’s singles betting action, Swiss veteran Roger Federer leads the way as a +200 favourite to claim a record eighth Wimbledon title, but is closely followed by world No. 1 Andy Murray at +350, and recent French Open champion Rafael Nadal at +400.
Federer has enjoyed a resurgent season in 2017, with the 35-year-old claiming four tournament titles to date, including an efficient straight sets victory over rising German star Alexander Zverev as a -230 favourite on the ATP tennis odds in the final of the Gerry Weber Open earlier this month.
Nine tournament victories in 2016 lifted Murray to the top of the ATP rankings, but the Scotsman’s win in Dubai marks his lone title of 2017. Nadal travels to London after claiming a record 10th career victory at Roland-Garros, but has failed to get past the fourth round in his past four Wimbledon appearances.
