The third Grand Slam event of the year gets under way on Monday 3rd July at the All England Club in London as the world’s finest tennis players gather to compete for the title of Men’s and 
Women’s Wimbledon Champion 2017.
After a lengthy qualification process in the week prior to the event, those players seeded into the main draw, along with all the qualifiers that made it through will go into the hat for the main draw and over the next fortnight, the best male and female tennis stars will compete to be the one lifting the coveted trophy on that final weekend of action.
Wimbledon is always a betting extravaganza at Bet365 Sport with a whole host of bets available across the tournament including extensive In Play betting each day of the championships, plus a number of popular pre-match markets, including of course a chance to bet on which player will be the overall winner.
In this article, we are going to preview both the male and female singles tournaments before we bring you two tips, the first being who our tip is for the outright winner and secondly, who we feel offers good value for money as an Each Way selection, on the understanding that only selecting one of the two finalists will offer an each way payout.
Men’s Singles Preview and Tips
- Current Champion: Andy Murray
Top Seeds for 2017
- Andy Murray (GB)
- Novak Djokovic (Ser)
- Roger Federer (Swi)
- Rafael Nadal (Spa)
- Stan Wawrinka (Swi)
- Milos Raonic (Can)
- Maran Cilic (Cro)
- Dominic Thiem (Aut)
- Kei Nishikori (Jap)
- Alexander Zverev (Ger)
- Tomas Berdych (Cze)
- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra)
- Grigor Dimitrov (Bul)
- Lucas Pouille (Fra)
- Gael Monfils (Fra)
- Gilles Muller (Lux)
One of the most staggering statistics you can hear is that since the end of the Australian Open in 2005, the only other players outside of the current top five seeds at Wimbledon to win a major, is Croatia’s Marin Cilic, who won the 2014 US Open and Juan Martin del Potro, who won the 2009 US Open. Over the rest of that 12-year period either Djokovic, Murray, Nadal, Federer 
or Wawrinka have laid claim to every single other Grand Slam event.
That is an astonishing statistic but one which explains why when you are looking at a serious bet for the men’s Wimbledon Champion of 2017, you would be incredibly foolhardy to look outside of the top five seeds in the men’s event.
In truth, I’d immediately discount Wawrinka from winning the Championship too. Grass has never been the Swiss star’s favourite surface and while he has had some decent displays at Wimbledon, he has never really looked capable of winning it. He is also particularly prone to being drawn into long games on grass, which mean he gets tired later in the tournament.
Andy Murray is the current World Number 1, but the Scot isn’t in particularly good form and after being knocked out sensationally at Queens, he didn’t get the practice he would have liked leading into the event. Novak Djokovic too is another player who is struggling a bit for his best form and a change of coaching team is yet to bring the Serbian any fruits for his labour just yet.
That said, it would be a huge surprise if both Murray and Djokovic didn’t reach the semi finals and in truth, the same can be said for the other two top seeds, Roger Federer and French Open Champion Rafael Nadal.
Both these superstars were meant to be on the decline but have seen a renaissance in 2017, with Federer claiming the Australian Open and Nadal the French. Both are in great form heading into the event, but Federer’s record on grass is far superior to the Spaniards and as a result, especially having sat out the French Open, I think Federer is primed ready to earn an incredible eighth Wimbledon crown this year.
- Outright Winner Bet: Roger Federer (9/4 with Bet365)
Having missed the French Open, where he knew he could not realistically challenge Nadal’s dominance on clay, Federer warmed up for Wimbledon with a brilliant win in the Halle tournament. He is fresh, rested and bang in form as he heads to his favourite tournament where he has enjoyed victory seven times in the past. Unless Djokovic can find his best form in the Semi Final, I cannot see anybody stopping Federer in his quest for title number eight.
- Solid Each Way Bet: Rafael Nadal (9/2 with Bet365)
I can’t see any major hurdles for Rafael Nadal before he hits the semi final stage when he is scheduled to run into Andy Murray. Last year, I’d have backed the Scot, but such is Murray’s lack of form that I feel while this could be a very close contest and arguably one of the games of the tournament, I think Nadal’s greater consistency and better form will just about see him get past the top seed and into the final.
Women’s Singles Preview and Tips
- Current Champion: Serena Williams
Top Seeds for 2017
- Angelique Kerber (Ger)
- Simona Halep (Rom)
- Karolina Pliskova (Cze)
- Elina Svitolina (Ukr)
- Caroline Wozniacki (Den)
- Johanna Konta (GB)
- Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus)
- Dominika Cibulkova (Svk)
- Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol)
- Venus Williams (US)
- Petra Kvitova (Cze)
- Kristina Mladenovic (Fra)
- Jelena Ostapenko (Lat)
- Garbine Muguruza (Spa)
- Elena Vesnina (Rus)
- Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus)
The women’s tennis scene this year has a somewhat scrambled look about it. With Serena Williams, the most dominant force in the game, currently not competing due to pregnancy, we have seen 
a number of unusual results. After Serena Williams won the Australian Open in January, it was the outsider Jelena Ostapenko who surprised everyone by winning the French Open.
This means that the 2017 Wimbledon Women’s tournament is arguably the most open event in many, many years. There are some clear favourites, both Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber will likely go close having been losing finalists to Serena in both the past two tournaments. It will be interesting to see how clay court specialists like Halep and Ostapenko, the French Open finalists, cope on the grass courts.
British fans are hoping sixth seed Johanna Konta could become the first female winner of the tournament since Virginia Wade won in 1977 and the British star has as good a chance as any British female has had since Wade won that title during Jubilee year. Other names to look out for include Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, a finalist back in 2014, Karolina Pliskova, who is many peoples favourites to win the event and of course, Serena’s sister Venus Williams who is still rated as a 12/1 shot to win the title.
However, one thing is sure – there will be upsets along the way with women’s tennis seeing some big shock victories in recent times, even in the week leading up to the start of Wimbledon. However, at the end I do expect the cream of women’s tennis to rise to the top and I know who I’d be putting my money on here.
- Outright Winner Bet: Angelique Kerber (14/1 with Bet365)
Last year, only a dominant Serena Williams managed to stop the current World Number 1 from earning her first ever Wimbledon title. Since then she has claimed the US Open and while her form this season hasn’t been particularly outstanding, she retains the top spot in the women’s world rankings and she will never have a better chance to add Wimbledon to the two other Grand Slam wins she has under her belt.
- Solid Each Way Bet: Johanna Konta (12/1 with Bet365)
Could Great Britain have a female finalist at Wimbledon? Jo Konta has moved through the rankings over the past few years to sit sixth in the Wimbledon seedings this year. With home support roaring her on, she stands as good a chance this year as any other to make the final in what is a hugely open women’s draw. At 12/1, she is a decent pick for an each way punt.
