Odds not on Murray to win Wimbledon

LONDON (AFP) –

Britain’s Andy Murray hits a return against France’s Nicolas Mahut during the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club in west London on June 13. Murray has been eased out to 12/1 with bookmaker Stan James to win his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon following a moderate run of results this year.

British hope Andy Murray has been eased out to 12/1 with bookmaker Stan James to win his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon following a moderate run of results this year.

The 25-year-old Scot, ranked fourth in the world, has won just one title this season in Brisbane and reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the quarter-finals in Roland Garros.

Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic will arrive at the All England club at 7/4 favourite to land a fifth straight Grand Slam tournament not played on clay.

Rafael Nadal edged out the Serb to secure a seventh French Open crown and is 5/2 to go one better than here 12 months ago, while Roger Federer is 11/2 to add to his six Wimbledon victories and join Pete Sampras at the top of the all-time leaderboard.

“Another Nadal-versus-Djokovic decider would be nice and we are 6/4 that occurs,” said Rupert Adams of William Hill.

Maria Sharapova last won at Wimbledon as a 17-year-old back in 2004 but the Russian is 11/4 to follow up her recent triumph at Roland Garros.

Serena Williams is 3/1 to hold the trophy at the All England Club for the fifth time, while defending champion Petra Kvitova is 13/2 at best to retain her title after seeing off Sharapova in last year’s final.

“Sharapova won the French Open and it is a case of trying to catch the Russian now,” Adams added. “Everyone else seems to be out of form and we expect her price to shorten.”