Wimbledon Day 2 Tips: Blink and you'll miss these picks at 5/4 & 9/4

• Wimbledon not everyone's priority

• Ballbasher capable of bloodying Garcia's nose

• Upstart Dane can send Collins packing

The grass season is short and players with ambitions on other parts of the tennis calendar often opt for downtime at this part of the year.

Today I'm focused on two high profile examples where that is the case and I believe there is value on siding with a couple of young talents to send seeded players packing.

Hungry Blinkova

Usually Caroline Garcia puts high stock into the grass court season. However, the former Nottingham and Mallorca champion has however not taken to court since exiting early at the French Open.

She has had good reason not to play, announcing engagement to her boyfriend in June.

Even though she's a decent grass court player Garcia has never gone beyond the fourth round of Wimbledon and I don't believe her shifting life priorities set her up for a good run this year.

Her opponent Anna Blinkova is a highly capable player that has put in the hard yards in preparation for Wimbledon and she has claimed notable scalps on grass courts.

The Russian power hitter has defeated former US Open finalist Leylah Annie Fernandez, the prodigious Clara Tauson, and last week took out Grand Slam champion Bianca Andreescu and grass court expert Beatriz Haddad Maia.

What's more Blinkova is a former junior Wimbledon finalist.

I watched her matches against Andreescu and Haddad Maia and was impressed by her form. She is playing positive, attacking - and importantly for her - consistent tennis.

Both players will go for their shots and Blinkova is showing good form, whilst we can only guess at the level Garcia might produce.

The pair have met three times and Blinkova has won at a big price on the last two occasions - both in a Grand Slam.

Blinkova can be hit and miss but she is maturing into her game and I think her career is trending in a positive direction.

At 5/42.25 I fancy Blinkova to catch Garcia cold.

Danimal doesn't fancy grass

Danielle Collins announced that she will retire at the end of this season. It lifted a weight off her mind and she is in the midst of a career best season.

'Danimal' as she's nicknamed for her feisty on court demeanour, won titles in Miami and Charleston before a creditable semi-final appearance in Rome and Strasbourg.

However, she's not played one grass court warm-up event citing the need to take a break from the tour after an intense first half of 2024.

There is no great reason to expect her to transfer her good seasonal form to the grass courts that play very differently to the conditions in which she has peaked previously.

Collins aversion to grass is not a new thing, she has not played any warm up event in the build up to Wimbledon in her past three visits and each time that has resulted in a quick departure.

The American may have survived the opening round on two of those visits but wins against clay court specialists Polona Hercog and Julia Grabher are nothing to write home about.

Despite all this Collins has been priced at a short and optimistic 1/31.33 to defeat Clara Tauson.

The Dane may be in no great form but she has at least played on grass in the build-up to Wimbledon.

Tauson has yet to master grass but she has the game to be effective on this surface. Her big serve and powerful strokes are perfect in theory to be effective on the grass. She has also had her best career results indoors and on faster tracks.

Let's not ignore that Tauson is a serious talent who was touted as a potential Grand Slam champion in the not too distant past. Tauson has unfortunately struggled with a chronic back problem, but she has a lot of potential upside.

9/43.25 is too big to ignore and Tauson has to be backed.

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