LONDON, June 14, 2021
The grass court season gets underway as the main warm-up for the third Grand Slam tournament of the season – Wimbledon – takes place at The Queen’s Club. The Cinch Championship is considered a prime preparation tournament for the grass court season main event at Wimbledon, and boasts some notable winners down the years, including Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
The competition did not take place last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but 2019 champion Feliciano López will be returning to attempt to retain his crown. The 39-year-old Spaniard also won the competition in 2017 and will be one of the favourites among the bookmakers to make it a hat trick of victories when the tournaments reaches its climax on 20th June.
In terms of your betting, as well as all of the established names in sports bookmaking, there are a few new players on the scene offering attractive sign-up offers to potential punters. These new betting sites are safe options to bag a few quid on López or any of the other well-known contestants entering this year’s Cinch Championships.
So who else will be in attendance? The biggest draw for the home crowd will of course be Britain’s Andy Murray – the two-time Wimbledon champion is still fighting his way back from a career-threatening injury and has been granted one of the three wildcard entries into this year’s tournament. The other two positions have yet to be filled, with an announcement to be made before the main draw for the competition takes place on 12th June.
Murray has won this tournament a record five times, beginning his run of success back in 2009. Murray also jointly owns another Queens Club-related record: he is one of only three men to have recorded the Queen’s Club/Wimbledon double twice. The other players to have achieved that feat are John McEnroe and Pete Sampras. That’s quite some illustrious company.
Murray will certainly be the home favourite for this one, but there will be a host of other home players flying the flag for Britain too, including current World No. 27 Dan Evans and World No. 49 Cam Norrie. In many ways, the depth in British tennis has never been so strong and one of those players making a solid run to the final cannot be ruled out.
There are already a host of established international names already confirmed for the event in London, with those two wildcards yet to be confirmed. Feliciano López and Andy Murray will be joined by three other former winners: Marin Čilić, who has claimed the title twice in 2012 and 2018, Grigor Dimitrov, the 2014 winner, and American Sam Querrey, the victor from 2010. López’s vanquished opponent from the 2019 final, Frenchman Gilles Simon, will also be in attendance.
So far the highest-ranked player to confirm his participation at this year’s event is current World No. 9 Matteo Berrettini. The Italian will be joined by fellow top-20 ranked players Diego Schwartzman (10), Denis Shapovalov (15), Milos Raonic (16) and Jannick Sinner (17). Other notable players set to make an appearance include Fabio Fognini and Alex de Minaur.
It remains to be seen if one of the golden trio of men’s tennis will be in London for this event. Rafael Nadal – the undisputed ‘King of Clay’ – has also claimed this event now known as the Cinch Championship, overcoming Novak Djokovic in the final back in 2008. Djokovic has surprisingly never won here – also losing the final to Marin Čilić back in 2018. And then there’s Swiss great Roger Federer, who has only ever played this tournament once, back in 1999 when he lost in the first round. Federer usually opts to play the Halle Open in Germany instead, and has won that tournament a record ten times.
It’s also worth remembering that there are other notable events to be played at the Cinch Championship. The men’s doubles tournament will feature the number-one-ranked duo in the world, Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who have already claimed no fewer than six titles in 2021. Andy Murray’s brother Jamie will be there with partner Bruno Soares – the duo are major winners themselves. It’s also good to remember that Andy Murray himself won the doubles tournament here with Feliciano López – the singles winner – in 2019.
With a junior championship and wheelchair tennis championship also set to take place, that’s a jam-packed schedule for the 2021 Cinch Championship.
But in terms of the men’s singles, with an already well-established cast, and perhaps the odd superstar wildcard to come, there are sub-plots aplenty in what should be an intriguing men’s competition. Certainly there will be significant interest for tennis fans and betting enthusiasts alike, and the odds are already available for this well-established grass court championship.
And so all eyes on Queens Club and the Cinch Championship for what will be a week of top class lawn tennis action in preparation for the iconic Wimbledon. And with crowds returning after Covid-19 restrictions, this promises to be a particular thrilling festival of tennis. Who will claim the trophy on 20th June? And what will it all mean for Wimbledon 2021?
