E Gulbis to win at least one set vs N Djokovic – 6/4
Completely unfairly, Lord Gulbis wasn’t credited enough with his strong performance in the first round and then the same thing happened after he completely destroyed Juan Martín Del Potro. Poor aul Del Boy would’ve struggled against Rodney with how badly he was playing. But unfortunately for him he instead came up against a new and improved (soon to be married) Gulbis who seems to have found love in a hopeless place – love for tennis that is.
The ‘Richie Rich’ of tennis (his father is a one of wealthiest people in Latvia) struggled for a while with injuries – and even more so with motivation – before finding his form for this year’s SW19. His ability to cause problems to the big guns is more than known and he seems to have also scraped extra inspiration from his compatriot Ostapenko’s French Open win.
Djokovic is facing problems of his own. For the first time in seven years he played a preparation tournament for Wimbledon, clearly looking for some kind of form. His (ahem) off the court problems seem to have taken his focus away from tennis which will be key in the matchup against the unpredictable Latvian.
Novak will come through this test, but we fancy Lord Gulbis to steal a set.
Power serve your way over to Paddypower.com for the latest odds
Riske – Vandeweghe over 21.5 total games – 5/6
There’s been plenty of talk about the state of the courts this Wimbledon, even before the horrific injury suffered by Bethany Mattek-Sands. This would have been a better match up if the grass was in better condition, but you still can’t take away anything from the serving abilities of these two American players.
With Serena expecting and Keys eliminated, these two will now defend the American pride together with Venus – so this match carries a lot of importance. Both have great grass court prowess and despite Vandeweghe being the favourite, it’s not going to be an easy run out for her.
Riske wouldn’t be widely known, but she had some really impressive results on the green stuff and clearly the surface she feels most comfortable with.
We can expect a close one here and three sets isn’t out of the question too.
Albert Ramos-Vinolas +6.5 games v Milos Raonic – 4/5
“The sleeve” as he’s known the last few years is trying to defend his Wimbledon final points, but Raonic has found it as sticky as maple syrup in his matches here so far. He struggled hugely against Jan-Lennard Struff for an ugly looking straight sets win and then was one point away from being two sets down to one of the game’s old timers, Mikhail Youzhny.
The Canadian bomber also lost to Thanasi Kokkinakis (a close friend of Donna Vekic according to the brat that is Nick Kyrgios) in his only preparation match for the tournament, so he’s clearly a long way off top form. On the other hand Ramos is by no means a grass court player and wouldn’t be too crazy about the surface.
In saying that, the courts are looking more like a clay-surface already if you’re to listen to the whinging from a host of top players.
With his slightly unorthodox forehand, the lefty will pull Raonic from one side of the court to the other and wear him down with every opportunity he gets.
Bearing in mind a possible lack of fitness from the Canadian, this one might be a lot closer than odds suggest.