Sinner, after recent events we should have expected it, but we were not ready: instead, it happened suddenly.
Nothing went, basically, as we expected. Matteo Berrettini did not make a splash on grass, although it is undeniable that, net of his numerous stop&go, he still played very well. He had his title in Stuttgart blown away by an excellent Jack Draper and lost in the second round in Halle instead to Marcos Giron. The exploit we had hoped there would be, along the lines of the one 2 years ago (he had pulled off a double by winning Boss Open and Queen’s), was not there, in short.
And there was also not, as we thought, an absolute domination by Carlos Alcaraz in the London fort where he had triumphed last year. The Spaniard was also surprised by Draper, and this upset, irrevocably, the standings. Losing the points he won at Queen’s Club, the Roland Garros king also lost a position and ceded the second place in the world ranking to Novak Djokovic.
Small parenthesis: it is not yet known whether the Serb will play at Wimbledon or not, but he is jumping through hoops to recover from meniscus surgery. This is, therefore, one of the endless variables analysts had to take into account when setting odds on the winner of the third Slam of the season.
Sinner stays behind, Alcaraz at full throttle
And just as they delivered their verdict, Alcaraz lost, putting everything back in question With this unexpected drubbing the prediction so far formulated may have already collapsed, or maybe not, we don’t know.
According to bookmakers, the Spaniard is the favorite to win Wimbledon. His success is worth 2.37 times the stakes, while Jannik Sinner’s is worth a little less, or 2.62, but still more than Nole’s (4.50) eventual one, always provided he decides to play at the All England Club. Scrolling down the names we find, next, Daniil Medvedev (13), Alexander Zverev (17) and 4 other players who are similarly listed.
They are Grigor Dimitrov, Alex de Minaur, Hubert Hurkacz and Matteo Berrettini: if any of them won, the bettors’ investment would have to be multiplied by 21. They are at odds of 26, however, Holger Rune, Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas, reasoning that their triumph is, in the eyes of betting agencies, less likely than that of the previously mentioned tennis players. What if there were instead, as there has been so far, some outsiders?