Wimbledon
Wimbledon: Leading British Hopes
As Wimbledon kicks off for the next couple of weeks, there’s always some hope in the air for the British players to lift the trophy on one of tennis’ biggest stages.
We preview two of Britain’s leading hopes in both the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ Singles at this year’s Wimbledon Championships below.
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Jack Draper 18/1
Jack Draper took the world by storm a couple of weeks ago when knocking out last year’s Wimbledon champion, Carlos Alcaraz, from the Queen’s Club Championship in the Round of 16. Despite losing out in the following match against fifth seed Tommy Paul in the quarter-final, he’s had a very impressive grass court season so far and has cemented his position as England’s current number one.
Not only did he raise some eyebrows at Queen’s, but Draper also managed to pick up his first ATP title at the Stuttgart Open a few weeks prior, beating Matteo Berrettini after going one set down. As a result, Draper enters Wimbledon seeded for the first time and, as 29th seed, he’ll avoid all of the other 32 seeded players until the third round, which could help propel him into the latter stages of the competition.
Having been injured for the entirety of the grass-court season last year, there’s no doubt that Draper will be hell-bent on making an impact this time around. For a player who has it in him to dispatch the former world number one and current Wimbledon champion on the grass surface, odds of 18/1 look a good price ahead of this year’s tournament.
Draper’s first game is against the unseeded Swede, Elias Ymer, who is ranked 205 in the world with a career-high of 105 back in 2018. This should be a walk in the park for the Brit and the nation will be sure to cross their fingers when the players get the action started on court.
Katie Boulter 50/1
Katie Boulter found herself with a career-high ranking of 32 having held onto her WTA title in the Nottingham Open in the middle of June, which was the event that saw her resurgence onto the scene last year following a year-long injury setback. She is also currently earmarked as British number one.
Similarly to Draper, it’s Boulter’s first year as a seeded player at Wimbledon, but there are some extremely talented players in the women’s pool who she’ll need to overcome in order to progress into the latter stages this year.
Boulter however seems to be on an upwards trajectory and should she capitalise on her recent success, it could well see her outplay her odds of 50/1. Historically, Boulter hasn’t performed that well at Wimbledon but given the form she’s in and the overwhelming backing of the home crowd, we could see a different fire in the belly from her this time around.
Boulter’s first game is against the German Tatjana Maria, who is currently world number 61 and shocked the tennis world when going on an impressive run to make it into the semi-final in the 2022 edition, losing out by a set to Ons Jabeur. That said, Boulter’s dynamic style of play could be the defining factor here and we’d hope to see her progress into the next round.
