Wimbledon Tuesday Tips: Defending champion Krejcikova could be in trouble on Day 2

• Defending champion Krejcikova looks vulnerable

• Too fast for Gauff?

• Back big serving Americans 

• Take advantage of Betfair's Bet Builder offer

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Tuesday is expected to be warm at Wimbledon meaning conditions may prove too hot to handle for some players.

2024 women's champion Barbora Krejcikova is struggling for form and fitness and has a nightmare opening round match against the exciting Alexandra Eala.

Meanwhile, recent French Open winner Coco Gauff will need her wits about her against the hyper aggressive Dayana Yastremska.

Elsewhere I see value in the chances of the underrated Anna Blinkova and Christopher Eubanks, and there should be plenty of service holds when Ben Shelton takes on Alex Bolt.

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.

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Rising star Eala to down defending champion

It has been a rough 2025 season for defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.

The Czech has suffered an injury hit year, and only returned to tour in time for last month's French Open. It is not the first prolonged spell on the sideline of her career, and history tells us it usually takes a lot of matches for Krejcikova to warm up into form.

Krejcikova has experienced some heavy defeats on her comeback, although in Eastbourne she did find a couple of wins - albeit complicated, and against mediocre British opposition. Her Eastbourne run was curtailed by injury, the result of a heavier physical load than she has been used to, and it feels like this tournament comes a little too soon for the 2024 titleist.

The last time Krejcikova entered a major as defending champion at the French Open in 2022 she was defeated in the opening round, and there is a reasonable chance history repeats itself at Wimbledon.

Opponent Alexandra Eala made a first career final at the weekend, ending on the losing side of an epic and high quality three set encounter with Maya Joint.

Eala's consistency, decision making and lefty forehand were qualities that stood out and if she brings that form to SW19 Krejcikova will be in trouble.

As is tradition - it is Wimbledon after all - the defending ladies champion opens Centre Court play on day two, but I have little fear about Eala's stomach for the big occasion who has already shown in her young career an appetite for the spotlight.

All things considered at 1.9210/11 Eala is value

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How to back Gauff at 6/42.50

My expectations are low for Coco Gauff at Wimbledon.

The French Open champion scored a deserved second major title a few weeks ago, but the conditions for her preferred scrappy and physical brand of tennis will not materialise at SW19. Despite that Gauff remains a market leader, currently the fourth favourite on the Betfair Exchange.

Her opening match with Dayana Yastremska has the potential to be very tricky. Only two weeks ago the Ukrainian competed in the final of Nottingham, and followed that run with a quarter-final last week in Eastbourne. Yastremska is showing form on the grass.

Moreover, although Gauff has won all three of their previous career meetings their recent clash on the clay courts of Madrid saw Yastremska win the opening set by a bagel before Gauff edged the deciding set 7/5.

Yastremska is a streaky and powerful hitter and will believe in more favourable conditions and with her current form that she is capable of an upset.

Ultimately, Gauff wins these matches for a reason - she is a mental giant of the sport - and it is likely the American will get over the line again.

However, I find it likely that Yastremska can keep this competitive and using the Betfair Bet Builder you can create a 6/42.50 bet on Gauff to win, by pairing it with Yastremska to win over 7.5 games.

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Blinky under rated on grass

I have a running joke with a friend when grass season comes around that this is Anna Blinkova's year.

The Russian has served this friend and I well over the years as an underdog winner on this specialist surface. Her style of tennis is scrappy, and she is the dictionary definition of a battler. Although her chances of winning Wimbledon are slim and none, she is a player that knows how to play on this surface which counts for something, and Blinky usually represents a decent spot of value.

Maria Sakkari has already played the best tennis of her career, dropping irreversibly from the top 10 of the world rankings to 85 in the world.

Although she is in reality a good bit better than that, her current standing in the year to date rankings is lower than that of the under appreciated Blinkova.

Whilst Blinkova has shown some decent comfort with playing on the grass in recent seasons, it is harder to make a case for Sakkari finding similar enjoyment.

The Greek has never made it beyond round three despite the favourable draw of being a seeded player, and has lost more matches than she has won during this grass swing.

At 6/52.20 on the Betfair Sportsbook Blinkova is worth a play.

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Tiebreaks on the cards in Shelton vs Bolt

Temperatures at Wimbledon on Tuesday are expected to peak at 34 degrees celsius, while courts are typically at their most slick in this early stage of the tournament.

That means we might see some close sets contested by those known for big serves and less than formidable returns. Ben Shelton and Alex Bolt both fall into this category.

Shelton has played five matches on grass this season and already contested six tiebreak sets. Bolt has played seven over the past three weeks.

Break chances are likely to be few and far between, with Shelton holding in a monumental 92.6% of his service games on grass over the past 52 weeks. Bolt in this match-up should be able to hold reliably too.

Over 10.5 games in set one is price at 5/42.25 and cashes should either player blink at five all.

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Grass court specialist Eubanks is value

In 2023 Christopher Eubanks achieved a career best result by reaching the quarter-final at Wimbledon.

There is no player on tour whose results depend so heavily on their results during the grass season, as the American is a throwback to a past generation with his booming serve and volley approach. His ground game is mediocre at best and he struggles to compete week to week on a tour where surface speeds are considerably slower than was common for the sport in past generations.

Eubanks competed in the Boodles invitation event this week and appears to be rounding into good form, defeating compatriot Frances Tiafoe before losing in two tiebreaks to top 20 player Andrey Rublev.

After a decent clay campaign, opponent Jesper De Jong has been unable to repeat that form on the grass losing first round matches in his home tournament at Rosmalen, and then in Halle and Mallorca (to ghost from Wimbledon's past Bernard Tomic).

The Dutchman explained after defeat to big serving Reilly Opelka in Rosmalen of his dislike of playing big servers on grass, "He serves well and there are not many points that go beyond three strokes, I think I was playing better than him when I could make a rally. 

"There was an important point at 5 all in the second set tiebreak and he played it smartly, using backhand slice and attacking the net. That's how grass tennis can be, it can be frustrating like this." (Thanks to the excellent information service Tennisform for the quote).

It's clear that De Jong would prefer different conditions, and he is playing against an opponent who lives and dies by his Wimbledon results. The value is on the grass court specialist Eubanks at 2.0811/10.

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