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