The first round of Wimbledon rarely fails to deliver its fair share of drama and unpredictability; however, this year’s tournament significantly upped the ante when it came to upsetting the odds.
Within a couple of days of the Grand Slam event getting underway, eight top ten seeds had already packed their bags after prematurely departing SW19. On the men’s side, just 19 seeded players managed to progress to the second round of the competition, the second fewest at any major since 2001. In the women’s game, second seed Coco Gauff admitted ‘struggling in the locker room’ following her shock first-round exit to the unfancied Dayana Yastremska. The Ukrainian player was priced up at around 4/1 and wasn’t expected to trouble the French Open champion; however, she managed to ease past the American in straight sets. Other early casualties included Jessica Pegula, Paula Badosa, Holger Rune and Lorenzo Mussetti.
We’ve picked out three of the biggest shocks of the year so far, each of which has completely defied the bookmaker’s odds.
Alexander Zerev vs Arthur Rinderknech – Wimbledon
It wasn’t meant to be this way. World number 72 Arthur Rinderknech was not expected to lay a glove on the highly-rated German, and at odds of around 5/1, there would have been very few bettors placing their hard-earned cash on this outcome.
Grand Slam titles continue to elude Zverev, despite his immeasurable talent, and somewhat worryingly, he admitted to ‘lacking joy’ in everything he does following this defeat. His conqueror produced the best tennis of his career in West London and managed to hold his serve superbly throughout this contest. The Frenchman had never previously beaten a top ten opponent and was able to outlast his illustrious opponent on the biggest stage of all.
Lois Boisson vs Jessica Pegula / Mirra Andreeva – French Open
The best sports betting sites tend to offer accurate odds on every single Grand Slam tennis match; however, none of these bookmakers could have foreseen the rapid ascent of wildcard Lois Boisson at this year’s French Open.
The world number 361 burst onto the scene with two notable victories at Roland Garros, dumping both the third and sixth seeds out of the competition before her fairytale was ended at the semi-final stage.
Priced at 4/1 and 11/2, she came from a set down to oust Jessica Pegula before completing a straight-sets victory over Mirra Andreeva. This was a remarkable achievement considering the 22-year-old was making her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam event, and she wasn’t even listed in the pre-tournament outright odds by many online bookmakers.
Her journey ended at the hands of eventual champion Coco Gauff; however, her performances have seen her rise almost 300 places in the updated WTA rankings.
Learner Tien vs Daniil Medvedev – Australian Open
As a teenage qualifier, very few tennis fans had heard of Learner Tien before this season’s Australian Open. The 19-year-old, who was ranked 121st in the world heading into the opening major of the season, had only previously competed in the US Open and was comprehensively defeated in all of those appearances.
At odds of around 9/2, very little was expected of the left-handed Californian; however, he dug deep to beat world number five and three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev in five sets at a half-empty Margaret Court Arena.
Having reached the final of this tournament in 2024, Medvedev had been amongst the favourites to lift the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, and after cruising his way through the fourth set, he inexplicably let the previously fatigued Tien back into the match.
The teenager did manage to make it through the next round before succumbing to a defeat by the much-fancied Italian Lorenzo Sonego.
