Wimbledon 2019: Key American Players & Matchups To Watch

• Of the remaining American tennis players, only Serena Williams has won a Grand Slam Event.
• Rounds 3 and 4 of The Championships, Wimbledon will take place this weekend from Friday to Sunday.
• Though some of the Americans below have been eliminated for their single’s events, they still may be playing in a double’s event.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Wimbledon is one of the most revered tennis tournaments of all time. As the only Grand Slam that is played on grass and noted for being the oldest tennis tournament in the world, the competition is always fierce and many upsets rule the opening rounds. As more legal sports betting states open for business we’re likely to see the tournament grow in popularity across the US.

Some athletes love the court condition, as the game is exponentially faster, with the tennis balls skidding off the ground. As the tournament progresses, more worn areas of the court cause for unpredictable ball bounces leaving players open to amazing saves and even more amazing winners.

On the men’s side, 11 Americans qualified for the tournament but Noah Rubin, Frances Tiafoe, Marcos Giron, and Bradley Klahn all lost in the first round. Moving into the second round, John Isner, Taylor Fritz, and Dennis Kudla were eliminated and the third round saw Reilly Opelka fall to Canadian Milos Ranoic. This leaves only 3 American males left in the single’s event:

Sam Querrey has the best opportunity of the remaining Americans, as he took out the five-seed in Dominic Thiem in the opening round. With a serving battle upcoming against John Millman, Querrey should move forward at ease to potentially face American Tennys Sandgren in the Fourth Round.

Sandgren will have an uphill battle to meet Querrey though, as his focus will need to remain on Fabio Fognini. The Italian Fognini is at his highest ever ranking (10) despite recently turning 32 years old. However, he has never made it past the Third Round at Wimbledon, so an American Fourth Round is possible should Sandgren find some fortune in his third-ever Wimbledon appearance.

Steve Johnson has never ventured past the Fourth Round of a Grand Slam event and will face a tough competitor in 2014 US Open Runner Up Kei Nishikori. Nishikori has made the Quarterfinals in both the Australian Open and French Open this year, so unless Johnson can break Nishikori multiple times, another American might be out sooner than later.

On the women’s side, a total of 19 Americans qualified for the tournament, but over half of them have been eliminated in the first two rounds including notables such as Madison Keys, Venus Williams, and Sofia Kenin. The player’s remaining to keep any on include:

Cori Gauff plays on Friday against Polona Hercog and looks to continue breaking records for being the youngest player to do XY and Z. Her entrance into Wimbledon main draw gave her the title as the youngest female to qualify and her opening round victory over Venus Williams has certainly propelled her into stardom. Regardless, her inexperience will be put to the test by Hercog, who has been playing professionally since before Gauff was in elementary school.

Danielle Collins has been playing professionally since 2009; however, her breakthrough didn’t come until last year. With her highest-ever ranking coming in January of this year (23), Collins will look to continue off of the success she has in Australian this year, making it as far as the Semifinals. She will battle Petra Martic on Friday.

Sloane Stephens will face the toughest battle in Round Three, as she plays hometown crowd favorite, Johanna Konta on Saturday. Konta has been playing excellent tennis and comes off a Semifinals matchup in the French Open last month. Stephens and Konta have played three times (all this year) against each other, with Konta winning all three of them and only dropping one set in the process. Two of those victories were in the subsequent Grand Slam Tournaments – the Australian Open and the French Open.

Lauren Davis is a top-100 player so expecting her to win the entire tournament may be rather farfetched, but it is still possible to enjoy her run. A few years back she ascended to a top 30-ranking but has fallen off rather quickly. She will play veteran Carla Suarez Navarro, who can’t seem to get it done at Wimbledon. Suarez Navarro has reached the Quarterfinals in every Grand Slam Tournament with the exception of Wimbledon, so the possibility for Davis to continue is still strong.

Alison Riske comes from a family of tennis players but has been the most successful of her family. She has accumulated more wins at Wimbledon than any other Grand Slam event and even beat World Number 4, Kiki Bertens, on grass earlier this year in the Netherlands at the Libema Open. In Round Three, she will battle a youthful yet talented Belinda Bencic. Bencic has only been playing professional since 2014 but reached a ranking as high as number 7 before suffering a wrist injury that affected her ranking for nearly two years.

Serena Williams is the final female left for the American women and you may have heard of her before. She has seven Wimbledon championships (for the singles events only), is ranked in the top-10, and is the idol for female tennis players everywhere. While her competitive edge isn’t as strong as it was in the past, Williams should represent the American women well when she takes on Julia Goerges. Goerges is no player to overlook but Serena is 4-0 against Goerges, including the Semifinal matchup last year in London.

With so many Americans left in the tournament, there is no excuse to miss out on the Wimbledon betting action. With nine active states offering sports betting now that Arkansas launched earlier this month, many bettors are able to find local sportsbooks to bet on Wimbledon this weekend.

News tags: Alison Riske | Belinda Bencic | Bradley Klahn | Carla Suarez Navarro | Cori Gauff | Danielle Collins | Dennis Kudla | Dominic Thiem | Fabio Fognini | Frances Tiafoe | Johanna Konta | John Isner | John Millman | Julia Goerges | Kei Nishikori | Kiki Bertens | Lauren Davis | Marcos Giron | Milos Raonic | Noah Rubin | Petra Martic | Polona Hercog | Reilly Opelka | Sam Querrey | Serena Williams | Sloane Stephens | Steve Johnson | Taylor Fritz | Tennys Sandgren | Venus Williams | Wimbledon