Ricky Dimon
Wimbledon 2025 gets underway on Monday, June 30, when the defending men’s singles champion once again has the honor of starting play on Centre Court. It is once again Carlos Alcaraz, who toppled Novak Djokovic in a second consecutive head-to-head final at the All-England Club summer. Also on the opening schedule are Aryna Sabalenka, Madison Keys and Emma Raducanu.
Let’s take a look at the Wimbledon best bets to be made on the Day 1 schedule, and you can also find out my Wimbledon men’s singles predictions and Wimbledon women’s singles picks, which include longshots at +10000 and +5000 odds!
Parlay: Learner Tien ML over Nishesh Basavareddy and Gabriel Diallo ML over Daniel Altmaier (-108)
In this all-American showdown between 2 rising stars in Tien and Basavareddy, Tien has won both of their previous meetings – most recently by a convincing 6-2, 6-4 scoreline at the Knoxville Challenger last season. Both guys played last week in Mallorca, where Tien upset #1 seed Ben Shelton en route to the quarterfinals. Basavareddy lost to Hamad Medjedovic 6-0, 6-4 in the first round. Meanwhile, Diallo has been one of the ATP Tour’s breakout starts this year. An 8-2 record on grass features a title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, a big reason why the Canadian has soared to #41 in the rankings. As for Altmaier, he can almost be considered a clay-court specialist. The German has won 9 matches in his entire career on grass compared to 16 losses. He has won 208 on clay.
Matteo Arnaldi ML over Botic van de Zandschulp (-125)
In 2024, Van de Zandschulp stunned Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open and then ended Rafael Nadal’s career at the Davis Cup Finals. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, there have been no such headlines in 2025. It has been only bad news for him this season, to the extent that he is close to being an automatic fade every time he takes the court. Van de Zandschulp is 10-16 overall (4-10 at the ATP level). Moreover, he is a mere 11-14 all time on grass. Arnaldi comes in ranked 48 spots ahead of BVDZ (#43 to #91). The Italian is by no means on fire these days, but he is solid enough to take care of a struggling opponent – and probably with ease.
Olga Danilovic ML over Shuai Zhang (-130)
Zhang compiled a combined 0-5 record on grass in 2023 and 2024. The 36-year-old did well to qualify for the Wimbledon main draw this past week, but she did so at the expense of unspectacular competition. Zhang has won just 6 matches lifetime in the main draw at the All-England Club, her smallest number of victories among the 4 Grand Slam events. Danilovic is 12 years younger and ranked much higher at #39 in the world. The Serb is a big hitter whose game should work well on grass. Her performance last week in Bad Homburg was decent enough, qualifying for the main draw before succumbing to Naomi Osaka in 2 tiebreakers. Like Arnaldi, Danilovic should be a bigger favorite than what the odds indicate.
