Squaring off early in the first round of Wimbledon 2016 is Kei Nishikori and Sam Groth. Redemption will be on the minds of these two stars, who both suffered early exits during their respective campaigns in London last year. But only one of them can be the winner here. Who’s it going to be? Read on below for a detailed preview of this match.
For more tennis action, click here to see our preview of another first-round date between Roger Federer and Guido Pella.
Cash In on the Best Online Sportsbook Offers Now at TopBet!
Grass courts aren’t really one of Kei Nishikori’s favored surfaces and he himself would agree to this. But even so, the Japanese sensation firmly believes that today’s first-round matchup with the Sam Groth is a good opportunity for him to garner up some confidence on grass. And obviously, a win would be necessary for Nishikori to do so.
The chances of that from happening are actually pretty good. Besides ranking the No. 6 in the world, Nishikori got the best out of Groth in their lone encounter at the 2015 Washington Open. In that match, the 26-year-old right-hander outclassed the big-serving Aussie by beating him in convincing fashion, 6-4, 6-4.
The biggest threat to Nishikori, however, is arguably be his health. Prior to this week’s tournament, he was forced to pull out of the Gerry Weber Open due to a serious rib injury. It’ll be interesting if that will hinder him from performing at his best in today’s bout or throughout the entire event itself.
Nishikori is 8-6 all-time at Wimbledon, which includes three opening-round exits. Despite that, he’s still attractively priced at +2,000 to win it all.
2016 has not been kind to Sam Groth at all. He’s taken a huge drop in the ATP rankings ever since making it into the top 60 a year ago. His current form could attest to this as the 28-year-old Australian enters Wimbledon having lost four of his last seven matches. All of those were played on grass, by the way.
Well, to be fair to Groth, he’s had one notable performance this year when he reached the quarterfinals of the Seoul Challenger. Other than that, the only source of confidence that the World No. 124 can use is his powerful serves. But unfortunately, that probably won’t be enough to outperform an incredibly athletic and crafty player like Kei Nishikori.
Groth made it to the third round of Wimbledon last year.
Writer’s Prediction
Nishikori (-1,500) should win this easily assuming that he’s at full strength. If his rib injury bothers him though, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Groth (+800) pull off an early upset.
