American Jessica Pegula was on the wrong end of a massive betting upset on Tuesday at Wimbledon.
Key Takeaways
- Pegula was favored between -750 and over -1,000 to beat the world’s 116th-ranked player.
- More than 96% of the match’s bets and 89% of the handle were on Pegula.
- Pegula was one of just seven women’s players to receive at least 1% of the handle to win Wimbledon.
The tennis major’s highest seed to fall so far, No. 3 Pegula was defeated 6-2, 6-3 by Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto, the world’s 116th-ranked women’s player. The American was heavily favored, ranging from -750 to over -1,000 at sportsbooks to survive the first round.
ESPN BET reported that Pegula was getting 96.5% of the bets and 89.4% of the handle to beat the Italian. Before Tuesday, Pegula had not lost a first-round match in a Grand Slam event since 2020, reeling off 17 consecutive wins during that span.
“It's really a bummer to lose," Pegula said after the match. “I’m upset that I wasn't able to turn anything around. But at the same time, I do feel like she played kind of insane. Kudos to her.”
Wimbledon odds
It took less than an hour for Cocciaretto to pull off the wild upset. Pegula had just recently beaten No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the Bad Homberg Open to win her ninth title and was expected to make a deeper run at Wimbledon.
ESPN BET listed Pegula at +1,400 to win Wimbledon before the tournament began, and 2.2% of the bets and 1.7% of the handle were on the American. At BetMGM, Pegula (+2,200) was one of just seven women to receive at least 1% of the handle to win Wimbledon. She was getting 3.2% of the tickets on June 27.
Cocciaretto was +500,000 at ESPN BET to win the tournament prior to the event. BetMGM didn’t list odds for the Italian.
Speaking out about abuse
Pegula made it to the fourth round of the last tennis major, but following her loss to Lois Boisson last month, Pegula spoke out about social media abuse from bettors, whom she called “insane and delusional.”
“I don’t allow DMs and try to remember when to shut my comments off during tournament weeks, but they always find a way to my timeline,” Pegula wrote. “This stuff has never really bothered me much, but does any other sport deal with this to our level? I’d love to know because it seems to be tennis?? It’s so disturbing.”
Other professional and collegiate athletes have been vocal in recent months about harassment from bettors. Olympic champion and track star Gabby Thomas was filmed being heckled by a bettor looking to cash a parlay at a recent Grand Slam Track event.
Houston Astros' pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. hired security after he reported death threats an overseas bettor made to his family after the person lost a wager in a game McCullers played.
