Serena Gets No Love From Sports Bettors
Serena Williams is expected to retire following play at the U.S. Open. She advanced Monday and moves on to Round 2. Bettors have not been backing Serena in her Wednesday night match against Anett Kontaveit.
The tennis superstar beat Danka Kovinic Monday night. Williams hit 66 percent of her first serves.
"Just keep supporting me," Williams said after the match, "as long as I'm here."
Fans worldwide might be. Bettors are a different story.
"We made Williams a +175 underdog at the outset (Kontaveit was a -200 favorite), and early action came in on the GOAT, dropping her odds as low as +150," BetOnline's Adam Burns said.
That company has seen nothing but steady money coming in on the favorite Kontaveit. She is currently listed at -255 to win the match (Williams +215).
Here are the betting percentages:
Anett Kontaveit (-255) vs. Serena Williams (+215)
- 66.5% of the money is on Kontaveit to win
- 88.7% of the money is on Kontaveit to beat Williams by at least 4 sets (match spread)
Williams’ odds to win the tournament have gone from 66-1 to 33-1, and below are the latest numbers for the men's and women's U.S. Open Championship.
Williams has won six U.S. Open singles championships, the last in 2014.
“I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams recently wrote. “It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution.”
Women's US Open Odds
Iga Swiatek 3-1
Aryna Sabalenka 12-1
Cori Gauff 12-1
Caroline Garcia 14-1
Ons Jabeur 14-1
Jessica Pegula 20-1
Beatriz Haddad Maia 25-1
Liudmila Samsonova 25-1
Madison Keys 25-1
Belinda Bencic 28-1
Danielle Collins 28-1
Leylah Fernandez 28-1
Maria Sakkari 33-1
Qinwen Zheng 33-1
Serena Williams 33-1
Anett Kontaveit 40-1
Bianca Andreescu 40-1
Paula Badosa 40-1
Petra Kvitova 40-1
Veronika Kudermetova 40-1
Karolina Pliskova 50-1
Alize Cornet 66-1
Anastasia Potapova 66-1
Victoria Azarenka 66-1
Ekaterina Alexandrova 80-1
Garbine Muguruza 80-1
Marie Bouzkova 80-1
Shelby Rogers 80-1
Ajla Tomljanovic 100-1
Barbora Krejcikova 100-1
Petra Martic 100-1
Sloane Stephens 100-1
Men's US Open Odds
Daniil Medvedev 5-2
Rafael Nadal 4-1
Carlos Alcaraz 11-2
Nick Kyrgios 7-1
Matteo Berrettini 12-1
Jannik Sinner 16-1
Cameron Norrie 28-1
Felix Auger-Aliassime 33-1
Borna Coric 40-1
Casper Ruud 40-1
Hubert Hurkacz 40-1
Andrey Rublev 50-1
Marin Cilic 66-1
Pablo Carreno Busta 66-1
Andy Murray 100-1
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com