The week before a Grand Slam, it’s always a question of whether or not players should rest or get in some extra tennis. On the one hand, playing three weeks straight is a tall order; on the other, heading into a Major under-cooked is a risky play. This week at the Rothesay International WTA 500, plenty of the top names in women’s tennis have chosen to take the former approach and squeeze in a little extra tennis ahead of Wimbledon.
With big names such as Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur all vying for the title in Eastbourne this week, expect plenty of fantastic grass court action. Rybakina in particular will be desperate to rekindle some of the form that saw her hoist the Wimbledon trophy 12 months ago but with such a strong field, will she be able to?
We break down the betting odds from bookmaker William Hill and suggest the best bets to make ahead of the Rothesay International 2023 this week.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: June 25th, 11:00 P.M. (GMT)
The outright betting odds suggest that Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina is a heavy favourite heading into this week’s tournament. The Kazakh has odds of 4.00, less than half those of the next closest contender in the field. Following her is last week’s bett1open winner, Petra Kvitova, who sits on 9.00. Level with Kvitova is Ons Jabeur, who suffered an early exit at the same tournament. Rounding out the top five betting favourites at William Hill are Barbora Krejcikova—another winner last week—and Jessica Pegula, the world No. 4.
Since winning Rome in mid-May, Elena Rybakina has had a stilted past six weeks. The 24-year-old withdrew from Roland-Garros ahead of her third round match before losing to Donna Vekic in the second round of the bett1open last week. Considering she’s the defending champion at Wimbledon next week, chances are the world No. 3 will be desperate to get some momentum under her belt at the Rothesay International 2023.
While Rybakina’s draw is by no means a walk in the park, with a quarterfinal against either Barbora Krejcikova or Beatriz Haddad Maia followed by a possible semifinal with Jessica Pegula or Coco Gauff, we say Rybakina will remind women’s tennis why she’s a force to be reckoned with on grass. Simply put, Rybakina should be winning these kinds of tournaments—she’s got the ground strokes, the movement and the serve to be dominating the rest of the draw. We expect she’ll do exactly that in Eastbourne and at 4.00 is our pick for the best bet this week.
