Yes, Sir Andy Murray’s retirement will grab the headlines in the UK. He’s due to play in the men’s doubles event with Dan Evans at his last ever event before hanging up his racquet.
But surely the main story comes with Carlos Alcaraz’s bid for a third triumph in as many major tournaments. What an achievement that would be. And he’s the favourite to achieve it.
There will also be plenty of eyes on the Princess of Paris, Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles draw. The Polish superstar has won the last three French Open women’s singles crowns at this same venue. It would be a shock if she’s beaten here.
I do think both Alcaraz and Swiatek will win the gold medal. Their recent domination makes it difficult for me to look elsewhere. With a few absentees - some of which are detailed below - I’m not sure there’s enough power in the draw to stop them.
Having said that, instead of backing them both at odds on singles, I would be taking a stab at the title double at 7/4 with BetVictor.
Olympic Games Tennis Betting Tips & Preview
At this stage, it’s worth running through a bit of housekeeping. We have the usual array of events you would find at a grand slam; men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles.
The reigning gold medalists from Beijing are Alexander Zverev (Germany) in the men’s singles and Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) in the women’s singles. In the men’s doubles Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic (Croatia) were victorious, as were Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic). In the mixed doubles, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev won it for the Russian Olympic Committee.
Representing Great Britain in Paris are Jack Draper, Cameron Norris and Dan Evans in the men’s singles and Katie Boulter in the women’s singles event.
Murray will end his career in the men’s doubles with Evans, while Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski compete in the same event. Boulter will play women’s doubles with Heather Watson, the latter who also competes in the mixed doubles with Salisbury.
There are some big-named absentees in Paris, including men’s world number one Jannik Sinner and women’s world number three Aryna Sabalenka.
Greek god to get us started
The Olympics and Greece will always be linked given the first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896. So why not tip a Greek for a bit of success.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world number 12, is excellent on clay, with five of his 11 career singles titles coming on that surface. He reached the quarter-final at the French Open earlier this summer, beaten by Alcaraz, and the final of Barcelona before that.
Bet365 are offering 11/10 on Tsitsipas to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s singles draw. I think that’s a price very much worth taking.
I would also be taking the same bet on Jasmine Paolini in the women’s draw, bet365′s 7/4 on her to reach the quarter-finals. She has reached the final in each of the last two grand slams at the French and Wimbledon. Despite defeats in both, her confidence will be high.
With Tsitsipas, bet365 are offering 12/5 for him to meet Novak Djokovic in the tournament. They are both in the same Quarter of the draw and would be quarter-final opponents if they won their respective matches.
And just going back to the last eight appearances which I expect for Tsitsipas and Paolini, bet365′s 9/2 double on that is something I’d be taking.
Look around the bookmakers and bet365 are the ones with the best variety of odds for the Olympics Tennis events.
The next bet I will give you in this Olympic Games Tennis betting preview comes in the women’s singles draw.
How about American Emma Navarro to win her Quarter of the draw? So effectively you’re betting on the in-form world number 15 to reach the semi-finals. She is 9/2 with bet365 to win Quarter 2, with her main rivals Naomi Osaka and Qinwen Zheng.
Ok, Zheng has just won a WTA event in Palermo, but I think Navarro is good value.
She was a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon recently, and she reached the fourth round of the French Open having got to the final of the Challenger event in Paris before that. The 23-year-old should go well here given her career best form has come at just the right time.
Back the Brits to bring us double bubble
I will give you a patriotic bet in a moment, but first I like the fact Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula played together at the women’s doubles event at Wimbledon, getting through to the third round.
Ok, they may not have gone on to win the title, but playing in a big event will have stood them in good stead.
Cards on the table. It’s much tougher to pick a winner in the doubles events because a lot of players don’t choose to play together on tour, instead picking partners from different countries.
But Virgin Bet have JessiCoco - that’s my nickname for them, anyway! - at 7/1 to win the title. I think that’s worth a couple of quid.
The same firm also have Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski - both ranked inside the world’s top 25 as doubles players - at 10/1 to win the men’s doubles title.
They are probably our best hope for a medal across all of the five events in Paris. So come on, let’s put our money where our mouth is and get behind them.
Round one acca to finish
Let’s wrap things up with a quick-fire five-fold acca, which is available with bet365 at 14/1.
That’s for Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti to beat Gael Monfils 2-0 correct set score in the men’s draw and Jelena Ostapenko to beat Camila Osorio 2-0 in the women’s singles.
Also, there are singles wins for Tommy Paul over Luciano Darderi and Katie Boulter over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
Finally, Dan Evans and Andy Murray to beat Japanese pair Taro Daniel and Kai Nishikori in the men’s doubles is also included.
Lorenzo Musetti to beat Gael Monfils 2-0
Olympic Tennis Men's Singles
Jelena Ostapenko to beat Camila Osorio 2-0
Olympic Tennis Women's Singles
Tommy Paul to beat Luciano Darderi
Olympic Tennis Men's Singles
Katie Boulter to beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
Olympic Tennis Women's Singles
Dan Evans & Andy Murray to beat Taro Daniel & Kai Nishikori
Olympic Tennis Men's Doubles
A £10 bet on our Olympic Tennis Acca would return £150
Olympic Tennis
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