Andy Schooler previews the last Wimbledon warm-up events which take place this week in Eastbourne and Mallorca.<\/p>\n
Tennis betting tips: ATP Tour<\/p>\n
2pts win Taylor Fritz in the Lexus Eastbourne Open at 7\/2 (General)<\/strong><\/p>\n 0.5pt e.w. Lorenzo Sonego in the Lexus Eastbourne Open at 50\/1 (General)<\/strong><\/p>\n 1pt e.w. Roberto Bautista Agut in the Mallorca Championships at 20\/1 (Betfred)<\/strong><\/p>\n 0.5pt e.w. Arthur Rinderknech in the Mallorca Championships at 22\/1 (General)<\/strong><\/p>\n Sky Bet odds<\/a><\/strong> | Paddy Power<\/a><\/strong> | Betfair Sportsbook<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n Lexus Eastbourne Open<\/p>\n You don\u2019t often see the world number four playing the week before a Grand Slam tournament but TAYLOR FRITZ<\/strong> is among the field in Eastbourne.<\/p>\n The American clearly likes to play in this week \u2013 he\u2019s been a regular in Sussex in this week of the calendar, playing in five of the last six years.<\/p>\n He\u2019s won the title on three of those five appearances and racked up a 13-2 record at the tournament.<\/p>\n Having won in Stuttgart recently, he\u2019s in good form on the grass and while some will highlight his early loss at Queen\u2019s Club last week to Corentin Moutet, I\u2019d suggest that makes it even more likely that he\u2019ll want to do well here and get more matches under his belt before heading to Wimbledon.<\/p>\n Fritz is the defending champion (he also won here in 2022 and 2019) and, as top seed, he gets a first-round bye so will only need to win four matches in order to lift the trophy once again at Devonshire Park.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a little surprised, therefore, that he\u2019s on offer at 7\/2 and while I\u2019m not usually a backer of favourites, it makes sense to do so here.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve written before about the type of player who you want to be backing in weeks such as these.<\/p>\n There may well be players in the field who want a few more matches, but not necessarily a full week of tennis, ahead of Wimbledon. Don\u2019t be surprised to see a few withdrawals or half-hearted performances.<\/p>\n You want to be siding with players who should be fully motivated about this tournament and not those with one eye on what\u2019s to follow.<\/p>\n A track record for performing in the week before a Slam certainly helps \u2013 Fritz clearly has this, while another man who does in the bottom half of the draw is LORENZO SONEGO<\/strong>. <\/p>\n The Italian won his very first ATP title in this week of the season back in 2019 when he triumphed on the grass of Antalya and last year he added another in the week before the US Open at Winston-Salem.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also reached the final here before, in 2021, which means three of his six ATP finals have come in the week before a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n To me, that suggests this is a player who very much feels this week is an opportunity rather than a hindrance.<\/p>\n He\u2019s got a decent serve which he\u2019s been able to use well on the slicker surfaces in the past.<\/p>\n And while he\u2019s struggled for form since an excellent run at the Australian Open at the start of the season, there were encouraging signs in Halle last week where he pushed Alex Zverev all the way to a final-set tie-break before losing in the last 16.<\/p>\n Here, Sonego opens against Fabian Marozsan, who won only five games in defeat to Tomas Machac last week, with the winner of that facing Ugo Humbert.<\/p>\n I once again managed to back Humbert at the wrong time last week at Queen\u2019s Club where he lost his opener against Denis Shapovalov and I\u2019m clearly now worried he\u2019ll shine a week too late.<\/p>\n It\u2019s more than possible and Humbert will have his backers at 10\/1, but Sonego does have three wins in seven meetings with the Frenchman and I just feel he\u2019s overpriced at 50\/1 given how well he\u2019s performed in these weeks in the past.<\/p>\n Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard is the other seed in this section but he\u2019s not done anything of note on the grass in the past couple of weeks despite his massive serve, while potential semi-final opponents include second seed Tommy Paul and Halle finalist Alexander Bublik.<\/p>\n However, Paul is playing his first grasscourt tournament in a year and could find Dan Evans an awkward customer in his opening match, while I think it\u2019s unlikely that Bublik is going to reach back-to-back finals given his mentality<\/p>\n Mallorca Championships<\/p>\n It\u2019s going to be blisteringly hot in Mallorca this week, a factor which may make it even easier for players to decide a full week of tennis isn\u2019t what they need ahead of Wimbledon.<\/p>\n You have to question whether playing in the Balearic Islands on Saturday is the best way to prepare for the Grand Slam in south-west London so I\u2019m not at all convinced that players who will be aiming for a deep run at Wimbledon will be busting a gut to win this title.<\/p>\n In this bracket, I\u2019m thinking Ben Shelton and Felix Auger-Aliassime, the top two seeds.<\/p>\n Shelton is just 1-2 at this event and last year managed to lose to British qualifier Paul Jubb.<\/p>\n Auger-Aliassime, meanwhile, will be making his debut here where the courts tend to offer a higher bounce than their UK counterparts and therefore conditions tend to be a bit slower.<\/p>\n I certainly don\u2019t want to back either man at a short price so instead will try to find some value further down the market.<\/p>\n This is a tournament which has been won by Alejandro Tabilo and Christopher Eubanks at decent prices in the past two years.<\/p>\n Both men had their eye on this prize rather than Wimbledon and I\u2019m wanting someone similarly motivated onside here.<\/p>\n I\u2019d suggest ROBERTO BAUTISTA AGUT<\/strong> will be.<\/p>\n This is a player from the host nation, one who has delivered here in the past.<\/p>\n RBA made the final here in 2022 and has also reached two quarter-finals since the inaugural tournament in 2021.<\/p>\n Notably, he\u2019s from the Valencia area, which isn\u2019t far away at all, so he shouldn\u2019t be too concerned by the heat.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also in great form following a run to the Queen\u2019s Club semi-finals last week where he beat seeds Holger Rune and Jakub Mensik.<\/p>\n At the age of 37, he\u2019ll know he probably won\u2019t have too many chances to add to his 12 ATP titles and this week looks to offer such an opportunity.<\/p>\n Bautista Agut is another player with a strong track record of success in these \u2018pre-Slam\u2019 weeks, indeed he won in this week in the calendar when the Den Bosch tournament was scheduled in it.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also won at Winston-Salem directly before the US Open and twice in Auckland ahead of the Australian Open.<\/p>\n In more recent times, the Spaniard was runner-up in Adelaide ahead of the 2023 Australian Open, as well as that final run here in 2022.<\/p>\n I also like RBA\u2019s draw \u2013 the other seed in his quarter is Alex Michelsen, while I\u2019m not sure Shelton will be around for any semi-final \u2013 the top seed could be vulnerable against rising German star Justin Engel if they meet in what would be Shelton\u2019s first match of the week.<\/p>\n In short, there are plenty of reasons to like Bautista Agut this week and I\u2019m happy to back him at 20\/1.<\/p>\n In the bottom half, I\u2019m going to take a small punt on ARTHUR RINDERKNECH<\/strong>, who could be Auger-Aliassime\u2019s first opponent.<\/p>\n The Canadian is very hit and miss \u2013 after a strong start to the season, he lost seven of eight from February to April.<\/p>\n While things have steadied of late, the grasscourt season hasn\u2019t brought the success he would have liked \u2013 a semi-final defeat in Stuttgart was disappointing and was followed by defeat in the last 16 in Halle to Karen Khachanov. Overall, he\u2019s gone just 3-2.<\/p>\n The lower-ranked Rinderknech is also 3-2 at tour level on this surface so far this season, claiming some notable scalps.<\/p>\n He beat Denis Shapovalov in Stuttgart and both Shelton and Reilly Opelka at Queen\u2019s Club where Carlos Alcaraz eventually proved too good in the last eight.<\/p>\n Rinderknech\u2019s big first serve is a real weapon on this surface and I\u2019m pretty sure he\u2019ll be looking to continue his good form as long as possible by going deep this week.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the Frenchman\u2019s only ATP final came in the week before a Slam \u2013 in Adelaide in 2022 \u2013 and I reckon he\u2019s worth chancing at 22\/1.<\/p>\n Posted at 2130 BST on 22\/06\/25<\/p>\n Safer gambling<\/p>\n We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.<\/p>\n If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline \/ GamCare<\/a><\/strong> on 0808 8020 133.<\/p>\n Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org<\/a><\/strong> and gamblingtherapy.org<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Schooler previews the last Wimbledon warm-up events which take place this week in Eastbourne and Mallorca. 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