Wagering on Wimbledon

The 2013 Wimbledon Tournament enters its second week of action this Monday with Fourth Round matchups in both the Men’s and Women’s Bracket. The following is a brief betting update for this Grand Slam event.

Wimbledon Overview

This has not been the case in the early rounds of this year’s event with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga making an early exit on the men’s side of the bracket and Maria Sharapova falling in the second round of the women’s side.

Moving on this week’s action, the top remaining contenders for the Wimbledon title on the men’s side are in action on Monday in the Fourth Round. No.1 seed Novak Djokovic takes-on Tommy Hass as a -800 favorite on BetOnline’s money line with Hass listed at +600. No.2 seed Andy Murray will face Mikhail Youzhny as a prohibitive -1450 money line favorite in Fourth Round action with his opponent listed at +950.

Turning to the woman’s bracket, all eyes were on No.1 seed Serena Williams as she battled Sabine Lisicki for a spot in the Quarterfinal Round but was stunned in three sets. Two other top women to watch as this tournament progresses are now No.6 seed Li Na, who already won her Fourth Round match against Roberta Vinci and No.8 seed Petra Kvitova, who advanced to the Quarterfinals by beating Carla Suarez-Navarro in straight sets. With Williams out, the road to the Women’s Championship is suddenly a wide-open affair; however these two have inside track to meet in the Finals.

Wimbledon Betting Strategy

As the tournament progresses to the quarterfinals and semifinals later this week, the choices on the men’s side of the bracket remain fairly clear with Djokovic and Murray on an apparent collision course to meet in the Finals. Djokovic would probably be opened as a slight favorite for that match, but my betting strategy would be to ride the home-town hero Murray as far as you can. Everything seems to be falling in place for England’s native son to finally capture the country’s most prestigious title in the sport of tennis.

As far as betting on the women’s side of the bracket, with Serena Williams out of the way, you should gravitate towards the highest seeds left on the board such as Li Na or No.8 seed Petra Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011. As mentioned earlier, in major Grand Slam events such as this, going chalk is still the safest way to bet this sport. This year’s upsets certainly paint a different picture, but there are exceptions to every rule.