Another Massive Wimbledon Upset: Andrey Rublev (-5000) Goes Down In Round One
It was a rough day for six-seeds at Wimbledon on Tuesday. First, the defending women's champion, Markéta Vondroušová, lost to unseeded Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. Then, a few hours later, Andrey Rublev fell to unseeded Francisco Comesana.
While the Vondroušová upset was quite a surprise, especially since she was the defending champion, it wasn't nearly the upset that Rublev endured. Vondroušová was -700 to win her first-round matchup.
But Rublev was a massive -5000 favorite to advance to the second round. Based on the applied odds, Rublev had a 98% chance to beat Comesana. But, as they say, "that's why you play the game."
Rublev clearly wasn't in a good headspace during the match, as evidenced by him losing his mind after hitting a horrendous shot during the first set.
Rublev managed to win the second set after dropping the first, but the good news ended there. He dropped the third set in decisive fashion (6-2) before falling in a fourth-set tiebreak.
It's a brutal loss for Rublev, who is the sixth-ranked men's player in the world but has never gotten past the quarterfinals of any major tournament.
Despite his ranking, Rublev wasn't expected to compete for a Wimbledon championship victory, sitting at +5000 to win it all before the tournament started.
Still, almost no one thought he wouldn't make it out of the first round. But that's what happened.
In addition, Rublev won't compete in the Paris Olympics despite being selected because he wouldn't be able to compete for Russia because of the country's current Olympics ban.
He could have, however, competed as an independent athlete, but chose not to despite winning a gold medal in doubles in Tokyo at the 2020 Summer Games.
Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner (+175) and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz (+225) remain the favorites to capture the Wimbledon crown this season.
Novak Djokovic, who cruised to victory in the first round Tuesday, is the third betting favorite (+350).