Summer has arrived and the grass courts of Wimbledon are set to take centre stage for two weeks from Monday, with Novak Djokovic hoping to maintain his dominance in the men's event with a fifth straight success at the All England Club.
Young pretenders Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Sebastian Korda and Holger Rune may pose the biggest title challenge to Djokovic and although it is rare to see a surprise champion be crowned, there are sure to be plenty of early upsets.
It is common for seeds to fall early at Wimbledon, as grass is very much a specialist surface, so we have picked out three potential upsets in the opening round of the men's draw that punters could profit from.
What | Wimbledon 2023 |
Where | All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club |
When | Monday 3rd July - Sunday 16th July |
How to watch | BBC Sport & Eurosport |
Odds | Wimbledon Men's singles outright: Novak Djokovic 4/7, Carlos Alcaraz 10/3, Jannik Sinner 16/1, Daniil Medvedev 20/1, Alexander Zverev 33/1 |
Nick Kyrgios showed his true colours when finishing runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year, but it has been an underwhelming 2023 for the Australian.
This is a tournament Kyrgios loves and clearly gets himself up for but tennis' Jekyll and Hyde heads to the All England Club potentially undercooked, something that may leave him vulnerable in his opening-round clash with David Goffin.
Kyrgios has played only one competitive match this calendar year, a contest which saw him soundly beaten 7-5 6-3 by Yibing Wu in Stuttgart, which is used as a preparation event for this grass-court showpiece.
So there has to be some fitness concerns surrounding the Australian and he may be worth opposing with reliable Belgian Goffin who, despite being currently ranked as world number 123, is a former world number seven.
Goffin was a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year and had defeated the likes of Ugo Humbert and Frances Tiafoe before bumping into home favourite Cameron Norrie, who prevailed in five thrilling sets.
The 32-year-old is evidently not the force of old but he has won three of his five matches during this grass-court campaign and may be the fitter of the pair.
Kyrgios' big serve may come to his rescue, but if this contest goes four sets or longer then Goffin, who is 13/10, may be able to spring the surprise.
Taylor Fritz was a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last season but the levels of the big-serving American have dipped ever since.
The world number nine was unfortunate last season as he lost in a five-set epic to Rafael Nadal, who then retired ahead of his proposed semi-final encounter with Kyrgios.
Fritz's serve and aggressive style is well suited to the demands of Wimbledon but he has lost three of his five matches during this grass-court season.
That leaves him open to an upset against German rival Yannick Hanfmann, who reached the semi-final in Mallorca in preparation for the third Grand Slam of the season.
Hanfmann's list of conquests in Spain included world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas and any let off from Fritz is sure to be punished.
Interestingly, these two players locked horns in Rome in May and Hanfmann prevailed 6-4 6-1 and, although grass may strengthen Fritz's case, the American appears to be operating way below his best.
The German world number 48 is 10/3 to cause a first round stir.
Casper Ruud impressed on his way to the French Open final last month, but the Norwegian star is a clay-court specialist and has it all to prove on the grass.
The world number four has won only one match across his three Wimbledon visits, last season losing in four sets in the second round to Ugo Humbert.
Ruud prepared for Wimbledon with a three-set win over Alexei Popyrin at the Hurlingham Exhibition on Saturday, although that doesn't look like the best preparation for someone boasting his grass-court record.
The 24-year-old does have a big class edge on world number 198 Laurent Lokoli, but the Frenchman should be the sharper of the pair having come through three All England Club qualifiers.
Ruud remains extremely beatable on this terrain and it is 7/2 for Lokoli to send him packing at the first hurdle.
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