Andy Murray and Roger Federer tussle for Wimbledon favouritism
Sunday 2 July 2017 17:31, UK
Andy Murray will head into Wimbledon with his longest odds since 2012 with Roger Federer Sky Bet's clear favourite at 2/1.
Federer, who sat out the clay-court campaign, leapfrogged the Scot at the head of the betting after winning a ninth Halle tournament without dropping a set.
Murray had been favourite since capturing world No 1 status and boosted hopes with a semi-final run at the French Open, but has drifted out from as short as 6/4 to 100/30 after losing to world No 90 Jordan Thompson in his opening match at Queen's Club last week.
The reigning champion has landed just one title in 2017 and was forced to pull out of a second Hurlingham exhibition match due to a sore hip, raising further questions over his readiness and prompting his odds to drift again, with Sky Bet enhancing his price to 6/1.
Federer, in contrast, has won four of the six events he has competed in, starting the year with a shock comeback win at the Australian Open before back-to-back success in Indian Wells and Miami.
The pair have been kept apart in the draw, with Murray in the same half as Rafael Nadal and the same quarter as Stan Wawrinka, who has never gone past the quarter-finals at SW19.
Nadal followed up Federer's hard-court success by dominating the clay thereafter, winning four out of five titles, including a 10th French Open, and is third favourite at 9/2.
The Spaniard, who is a two-time champion, has failed to make it past the fourth round at Wimbledon since 2011 and missed last year's event due to injury.
Novak Djokovic has won two of the last three titles at the All England Club but has endured a year-long slump in form since completing his career Grand Slam at the 2016 French Open.
That started with a third-round loss to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon and the Serb is up against odds of 6/1 to bounce back by claiming a fourth title.
Plenty suggest that is one of the most wide-open Wimbledon tournaments in years but all options outside the 'Big Four' are still double-figure odds.
Last year's losing finalist Milos Raonic had headed the list of other contenders at 14/1 but, after being placed in Federer's quarter, has been pushed out to 18/1 alongside losing Queen's finalist Marin Cilic.
Feliciano Lopez saw off Cilic in Sunday's final but is up against odds of 100/1 at Wimbledon, while fellow recent grass-event winners Gilles Muller (s-Hertogenbosch) and Lucas Pouille (Stuttgart) are also written off at 100/1 and 150/1 respectively.
Rising star and Halle finalist Alexander Zverev is considered a more likely contender at 22/1 along with Nick Kyrgios (28/1), Stan Wawrinka (33/1) and Grigor Dimitrov (40/1).
Dominic Thiem is a 40/1 chance, while Kei Nishikori, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet are all 66/1 followed by Tomas Berdych and Juan Martin del Potro at both 80/1 apiece.
For those on the move, we will have Wimbledon covered via our website skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad, or follow our Twitter account @SkySportsTennis to join in the conversation. Who will win The All England Club titles this summer? Have your say...
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