Ashleigh Barty will be looking to claim her second Grand Slam tournament win of the season when she opens her schedule next week at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships as a strong +500 betting favorite on the tennis futures at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Barty is coming off her third tournament victory of the year at the Aegon Classic Birmingham, disposing of eighth-ranked Julia Georges in straight sets in the final, and now sits at No. 1 on the WTA Rankings heading into the 133rd edition of the Wimbledon Championships.
After finishing 2018 at No. 15 in the rankings, Barty has steadily gained momentum, picking up her first win of the season in dominating fashion at Miami before breaking through with her first Grand Slam tournament victory as the No. 8 seed at last month’s French Open, paying out on +2000 odds.
However, the 23-year-old Australian has yet to enjoy success at Wimbledon, where she was ousted in the third round a year ago, and faces formidable competition on the Wimbledon odds from a trio of veterans, with Angelique Kerber joining Serena Williams as +800 co-second favorites, just ahead of Karolina Pliskova at +900.
The defending champion at Wimbledon, Kerber has struggled so far in 2019, advancing to a tournament final on just one occasion, at Indian Wells, where she was bounced in three sets by Canadian youngster Bianca Andreescu. The 31-year-old German has also produced shaky results in Grand Slam competition since last year’s victory in London, bowing out in the fourth round at the Australian Open as a +1000 bet before suffering a stunning opening-round loss to unranked Russian teen Anastasia Potapova at the French Open.
Williams has fared no better in 2019, failing to get past the quarter-finals in just five tournament appearances this season, capped by a loss to 28th-ranked Sofia Kenin at Roland-Garros while pegged as a +1200 wager on the tennis odds. However, with seven career victories to her credit at Wimbledon, and a trip to the finals at last year’s event, the 37-year-old American cannot be underestimated.
Pliskova earned her first victory of the season last month at Rome, but has seen her Grand Slam drought carry over into 2019. The 27-year-old Czech achieved a personal best by reaching the semi-finals at Melbourne while sporting +1200 odds, but took a step back at the French Open with a straight sets loss to Petra Martic in third round action, and has yet to get past the fourth round in eight career appearances at Wimbledon.
Further down the odds to win Wimbledon, two-time winner Petra Kvitova sits at +1200, followed by Naomi Osaka at +1400, while Simona Halep lags at +1600.
