Wimbledon Monday Tips: Back Rublev and Griekspoor Bet Builders on Day 1

• Rublev not at his best

• Griekspoor has edge between weekend finalists

• Value on veteran WTA stars

• Take advantage of Betfair's Bet Builder offer

The most iconic tennis tournament in the world starts its 138th edition on Monday. It's an action packed day and there is plenty of betting value to get our teeth stuck into.

Andrey Rublev is struggling through a nightmare season, and will have to sharpen up if he's to see off the threat of Laslo Djere. 

There is a meeting of two players that contested grass court finals this weekend as Mallorca titleist Tallon Griekspoor faces off with Eastbourne runner-up Jenson Brooksby.

Meanwhile, there is clear value to be found in the women's draw by backing a pair of tour veterans.

Across the Wimbledon fortnight, Betfair is running a promotion where if you place a Bet Builder on any match you receive a free £5 bet. Today's tipsheet might serve for inspiration to claim your free bet.

Djere can compete with chaotic Rublev

One of the stories of the past 12 months has been the decline of Andrey Rublev. The Russian has fallen out of the top 10 and results accumulated so far this season have him barely within the top 20.

Rublev appears to be playing with the world on his shoulders, and is tightly wound up to the point that has game explodes at any moment. There is a down swing in his results across the board including first round exits at the Australian Open and Wimbledon last year. A fourth round finish at the French Open is creditable on paper, but his third round opponent Arthur Fils withdrew from their match before Jannik Sinner squashed him for the loss of only eight games.

In Halle, one of the highest profile grass events in the lead up to Wimbledon, Rublev lost in a deciding set tiebreak to Tomas Martin Etcheverry who is a baseline dwelling slow court grinder. It doesn't bode well for Rublev's chances at Wimbledon.

He might take some confidence from his first round draw however, as Laslo Djere is an opponent that Rublev has beaten on each of their four previous meetings. It is fair to say that the Serbian is not much of a grass courter, but he is a dangerous opponent that has won matches in SW19 previously.

Should Rublev bring something approaching his best level he should win this match. However, his matches with Djere have been competitive with each of their meetings at Grand Slams settled in more than three sets. 

When injury free Djere has been performing well across the board, and even took a set off the in-form Rosmalen champion Gabriel Diallo last week in Mallorca.

Use Betfair's Bet Builder to back a Rublev victory and Rublev to win over 20.5 games at 11/102.11. 

Brooksby can push inefficient Dutchman

One of the most intriguing first round matchups is that of losing Eastbourne finalist Jenson Brooksby and Mallorca champion Tallon Griekspoor. 

Both men are in strong form as proven by their efforts this week, and they have been set an unfortunate opening round assignment.

I believe that Griekspoor has the power to decide enough points on his own terms to get the victory, yet Brooksby is likely to use his variety to bring the Dutchman off track as often as he can.

It would be fair to say that Griekspoor is not the most efficient player at Grand Slams. After playing to four setters and a five setter at last month's French Open, he was out of steam by the time he played Alexander Zverev and retired after the first set.

At last year's Wimbledon his tournament was ended in five sets in round two.

Brooksby is a fighter, and a highly intelligent player who relies more on versatility and mixing up his game to get points on the board. He can surely rattle Griekspoor's rhythm for at least a spell.

Using the Bet Builder to pair Griekspoor to win with Griekspoor to win over 20.5 games which pays out a tidy 13/102.30.

Pavlyuchenkova enjoys this matchup

This edition of Wimbledon will mark the 16th appearance of tour veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Over those years it would be fair to say the grass courts have not been a happy hunting ground, with a 2016 quarter-final her best career result.

However, she has always been a player capable of getting good results on this surface and her pre-Wimbledon form has caught the eye. 

The Russian said as much when interviewed on her Eastbourne semi-final run, "I really hated grass before. So I'm very very pleased, and I think it's turning around to me now, so I started liking it a lot." (Credit to the excellent information service Tennisform for the quote).

Pavlyuchenkova has the form, and will be hopeful of continuing her recent positive results by defeating Alja Tomljanovic, who she holds a perfect three nil record against.

The key to those successes has been how Pavlyuchenkova can punish the fragile second serve of Tomljanovic.

The Australian typically enjoys playing on grass but has hardly set the heather alight this season suffering two first round losses and failing to get through qualifying in Berlin.

This looks like a good opportunity for Pavlyuchenkova who has already been backed in from a close to evens price on opening to her current 1.784/5

Value on veteran Shuai Zhang

It is rare to see Shuai Zhang in a Grand Slam maindraw these days. In September last year, the Chinese player ended a torrid spell of a 603 day losing run between tour level wins.

Her form and confidence completely evaporated, while injuries took their toll but despite all that there was never little doubt about Zhang's talent. 

This days she typically spends most of her time enjoying a successful doubles career, where she is ranked 12 in the world. Only a year and a half ago she was ranked at 22 in singles, and is currently a far from disgraceful 127.

Zhang qualified for Wimbledon in fine style, winning all three of her matches in straight sets and with room to spare.

She has landed well in the draw and surely has a good shot at upsetting Olga Danilovic. The Serbian player might be improving and finally realising her talent, but she is yet to win a match at Wimbledon in her career.

Danilovic is a tall girl that plays with huge swings and it doesn't fit well to grass court tennis. A player like Zhang is able to tie her up in knots, and at 2.3211/8 I see her as good value to do so.

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