00:00Live right here on this Monday morning on the early line on SportsGrid.
00:04A fortnight begins over at the All England Club on grass,
00:09the site of the 2025 Wimbledon tournament.
00:13Do they call it the Wimbledon Championships?
00:16The Championships Wimbledon?
00:17Something very formal when it comes to tennis.
00:21So we get you set with a primer.
00:23Basically, all of the information that we have at our disposal
00:27is from our producer extraordinaire and tennis aficionado Joe Friso.
00:31The tournament's starting today with round number one.
00:34So all of the prices and numbers you see on your screen are pre-tournament.
00:39They really haven't moved much, but again, just are pre-tournament.
00:43Let's start with the men's draw.
00:44Carlos Alcaraz, the back-to-back Wimbledon champ,
00:48defeating Novak Djokovic.
00:49And a sign of the times, a changing of the eras in both of those finals.
00:55But don't forget Djokovic, a seven-time Wimbledon champion in his last six appearances,
01:00has reached that final or has won that championship.
01:03No, reached the final.
01:04No, four times in the last six as I'm looking at these numbers and stats right now.
01:11Not a big deal.
01:13Carlos Alcaraz, though, DRS, booked as the favorite at plus 110.
01:16Again, the back-to-back Wimbledon champ who got the better of Yannick's center.
01:20World one versus world number two, of course, in that epic five-set match at the end of Roland Garros at the French Open.
01:29Center, second-best price, plus 195.
01:32Like, I'm just looking at, like, the favorites for the men.
01:34Like, Alcaraz, you got Sinner, you got Djokovic.
01:37Like, if you did, again, like, I don't follow tennis where I'm like, oh, I know years ago.
01:41Like, are those the only three guys that ever win anything in the majors?
01:44Like, if we go back, like, three years, like, nobody else has â like, do we ever get, like, an upset anymore?
01:50Like, oh, my goodness, a 50-to-1 is making a run to a championship where it's just basically the favorites up top.
01:55So, here's what I'm asking for.
01:56And Joe Fries in the background, you know, corrected.
01:58I said, you know, no, it is those three guys.
02:00Are we better off as a sport, Ben, if Wimbledon was just the top four players in the world and nobody else?
02:06Like, why the fodder then?
02:07You know what I mean?
02:08Like, why the fodder and go through everything that does not matter whatsoever at this point?
02:12Why don't we just bring the top four rated tennis players to these majors and have them play on a weekend as a Final Four?
02:19One match Saturday, one match Sunday.
02:21And I can guarantee you the ratings would be off the charts for that because why do we have to hang around here,
02:26people we never heard of, just to get the guys that we've actually heard of?
02:30You hear me out on that?
02:31Like, I'm for the people here.
02:32Just give us what we want.
02:34The really good players going head-to-head.
02:36Why the fodder?
02:37What is the spirit of earnest competition, DRS, to make your way through all of these rounds at Wimbledon to prove that you are a worthy champion, my friend?
02:48What you are asking, though, is the antithesis of sport and what we love.
02:53Even if it ends with the short favorites, you need that open competition to prove that worth, at least in my estimation.
03:01By the way, Novak Djokovic is in Yannick Sinner's portion of the draw.
03:06Same with Jack Draper, excuse me, who I believe is a Brit.
03:12Can you confirm?
03:13British lefty Joe Frizo?
03:14Yes, he is.
03:1519-1.
03:16Sasha Zverev there as well.
03:19And, Donnie, this is why we play big upsets already.
03:22Daniil Medvedev, who reached the semis last year, was already ousted this morning today in round number one.
03:30By the way, Yannick Sinner in his last three appearances at Wimbledon.
03:34Never a final, only one semifinal.
03:37Quarters two of the last three years, including 2024.
03:41The last slam winner on the men's side, not in the big three.
03:45Those top three, Carlos Alcaraz, Yannick Sinner, and still Novak Djokovic, was Rafael Nadal back in the 2022 French Open.
03:54Great info, of course, as always, provided by Joe Frizo.
03:58Let's look at the women's side of things.
03:59Arena Sabalenka, who lost in Paris, and was not all that happy about it, against Coco, otherwise known as Corey Goff.
04:07Plus 800 there.
04:09Elena Rabakina has that second best price.
04:12Yggish Fionte, dominant on clay.
04:14How about on grass?
04:16Plus 950 in Madison Keys.
04:18The other American, 14-1 to end out the top five.
04:22Last year's shop champion, Barbara, how did we do it again?
04:28Craig, Craig, Craig Jacoba?
04:31Krikova.
04:32Krikova.
04:32Krikova.
04:33Was 80-1.
04:34Kornikova.
04:34So how about...
04:36No, no, not Kornikova.
04:37Krikova, 80-1 last year.
04:40How about some upsets there, DRS, and the women's draw?
04:43Yeah.
04:44I think there are legitimate arguments.
04:46Is the women's game more compelling than the men's game?
04:48I'm like being honest right now because, you know, I guess no more Serena Williams who was dominant here.
04:53It feels like that you're getting a more, or should I say, a better look at a chance for an upset on the women's side.
04:58So there it is.
04:59And also, we don't have to play three sets.
05:00Hey, Matt, look.
05:01Equality, we always talk about, Ben, right?
05:03Same sets for each.
05:04Three sets for the men, three sets for the women.
05:06Let's get these over earlier, right?
05:07Because we don't need the earlier rounds.
05:09Oh.
05:10Is it three or five?
05:11By the way, Rabakina, the only person in the top five there to even reach a final, let alone be crowned a champion.
