It is Carlos Alcaraz that has to be the selection here, as unoriginal as that is. Djokovic and Sinner are on the same half of the draw, along with Jack Draper, who is another potential finalist, and, whilst Alcaraz has a couple of hurdles of his own to jump over, they are nowhere near as high as his main rivals.

That is before one then goes on to analyse Alcaraz’s actual form, which is also incredible. His second consecutive Queen’s Club title last week extended his grass court record to 29-3, he is now on an 18-match winning streak, and, more important than any of these stats is that he just appears to take everything in his stride and enjoys the challenge of tennis at the very highest level.

Jannik Sinner will be really keen to begin to banish the ghosts of the French Open final, where he held match points for the title against Alcaraz, but the data isn’t there to support the Italian ahead of his main rival here. Sinner’s ATP grass court record is a relatively modest 22-10, a win rate 7% lower than any other surface for Sinner. The Italian is yet to win his first title on the surface as well, and he suffered a shock defeat to the mercurial Alexander Bublik in his warm-up tournament. Alcaraz is the pick here.

The only other bet we recommend here is in the very open third quarter of the draw. This is headed up by Alexander Zverev, whose form on grass is perfectly fine, but he is not dominant. We like the chances of American Taylor Fritz to come through this quarter.

Fritz has probably the second best form of the entire field in this grass season. He won the Boss Open against Zverev in the final, and, at the time of writing, is in the Eastbourne final against Jenson Brooksby. It is unusual for a big player to win the week before a Grand Slam tournament, but Fritz wants to maintain his rhythm going into the big one. For him to be a bigger price than Zverev to reach the semi-finals here looks a high value selection.

Elena Rybakina has been through many ups and downs since her own maiden Grand Slam title in SW19 in 2022. However, it is the here and now that concerns us, and Rybakina looks to be somewhere back near her best. A narrow three set defeat to world number one Aryna Sabalenka in Berlin last week, a match in which she held four match points, illustrates that the level of her tennis is in the right place.

The draw is tough all the way across the women’s side of the tournament, but Rybakina has found a decent couple of opening rounds to ease herself in. She is in the same section as Coco Gauff, the French Open champion, which is a concern, but, on grass, Rybakina probably has the edge in that matchup.

Importantly, the big-hitting world #11 wouldn’t face Aryna Sabalenka until the final, and she also avoids some other in-form players on the other side of the draw.

Madison Keys is our other selection, the big-hitting American is carrying the confidence that comes with a maiden major title, won in Australia in January, beating Sabalenka in that final. It is likely that Keys would have to overcome Sabalenka again if she were to make a run to the title here, as the world #1 is in her quarter, but there is evidence to suggest that Keys can rise to the challenge.

Keys is good on the grass, and has made a couple of decent runs at Wimbledon in her career, but she is a different competitor this year. That Australian Open title has clearly salved some of her mental difficulties on court, and as long as her game is on, she is capable of beating anyone in the draw.

The talent in the women’s game has never been deeper, and there are multiple possible winners. It could be worth looking at a player at a bigger price, at Keys represents plenty of appeal at 16/1.