Rafael Nadal now just 5/1 for Wimbledon after French Open decima
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Whatever era you consider to be Rafael Nadal’s zenith, he has come pretty close to matching it over the last two weeks.
The Spaniard utterly pulverised his opponents in this year’s French Open, claiming a record 10th title with a supreme 6-2 6-3 6-1 victory over Stan Wawrinka.
This is no fluke though. The Spaniard reached the Australian Open final in January and boasts a 42-6 record for the year so far.
By contrast, Andy Murray is 22-8 and Novak Djokovic 23-7.
So it’s high-time we seriously consider the King of Clay to do the business on the grass this year too.
The odds certainly suggest as much.
You could have got Nadal at 33/1 to win Wimbledon in January this year.
But those odds have consistently fallen, and now we’re just 5/1 on the 31-year-old winning a third title in SW19.
He’s even shorter in the betting than Novak Djokovic, who had been evens favourite last summer.
Murray is joint-favourite at 11/4, with the Brit finally showing some form in Paris.
But he shares top billing with the resurgent Roger Federer.
And crucially, the Swiss maestro will be fully refreshed having skipped much of the clay season to focus on a serious assault for his eighth Wimbledon crown.
Amazingly, Djokovic has been bumped to fourth in the betting at 11/2.
While Nadal’s victory in France was utterly expected, nobody saw 100/1 shot Jelena Ostapenko winning the women’s competition.
The 20-year-old Latvian had never been beyond the third round of a slam before, and is 14/1 to double up in Wimbledon.
Simona Halep, stunned by her unseeded opponent in the Paris final, is 20/1 to bounce back and win in London.
Karolina Pliskova leads the betting at 5/1, ahead of Petra Kvitova, with home favourite Johanna Konta 7/1.
But plenty of attention will be on the returning Victoria Azarenka.
The Belarussian is making her first appearance at a Slam since the birth of her son in December, and 9/1 says she makes it a victorious comeback.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
