Is Novak continuing his winning run?

The second day of the tournament at Church Road offered some highlights and plenty of drama. The start was also pleasing from a red-white-red perspective as the only player in the singles competitions lived up to his role as favourite in the first round. In the second round on Thursday, two qualifiers will face each other in the duel between Dennis Novak and Jason Kubler.

After the three wins in the qualifying – which is not played on the holy grass of Wimbledon but in Roehampton – both players could prove their strong form in Wimbledon as well. Victories at Grand Slam level have been very rare for both players in their careers so far. Novak won a GS match for the third time (he was in the third round of Wimbledon in 2018), while for Kubler it was only his second success (2nd round US Open 2018).

In the current world ranking, however, Kubler, as the current world number 99, can be found well ahead of the Austrian (153). That is one reason why the bookmakers see the man from Australia as the 60:40 favourite in the qualifier duel between Novak and Kubler according to the current odds.

Dennis Novak – Statistics & current form

You can definitely call it a lucky draw when a qualifier is the heavy favourite in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament. This was the case for the only Austrian early on Tuesday evening. Against the Argentinean clay court specialist Facundo Bagnis, who has never won a match on grass in his career, a failure for Novak would indeed have been a bitter disappointment. Novak was able to confirm the very good draw and reached the second round of a Grand Slam tournament for only the second time.

Rising form after health problems

Novak had to take a short lap of honour as he was momentarily off his game in the second set and was careless with his chances. This was a problem in general, because in the end Novak only used three of his proud 17 (!) break points. Especially on grass, this abundance of break opportunities is rare. However, the victory was never really in danger despite the intermediate set equaliser. All in all, Novak was clearly superior in all relevant statistics.

The fourth win in a row underlines the 28-year-old Austrian’s rapidly improving form. His coach Günter Bresnik had already said in the run-up to Wimbledon that Novak is very strong in training, but is too rarely able to prove it on the court. Slowly but surely he is succeeding and the desired results are coming. At the beginning of the year, Novak was still severely “handicapped” by Corona and was ranked low in the world rankings. In the medium term, his goal is to return to the top 100, and he certainly has the potential to do so.

Novak’s straight forehand and strong serve come into their own very well on grass and ensure that he can generate a lot of pressure even as a server. Close sets are therefore to be expected against the Aussie, which is why we recommend betting on over 38.5 games for Novak against Kubler.

Jason Kubler – Statistics & current form

The Australian is probably only known to tennis experts, as the 29-year-old man from Brisbane is currently ranked number 99 in the ATP World Rankings, which is almost his “career high”. In October 2018, he was briefly ranked as high as No. 91 in the world. In the following years, however, Kubler was no longer convincing and slipped down the world rankings. Since 2022, however, his form curve has also been pointing steeply upwards, which is underlined by a look at his strong 36:10 annual record.

Futures and Challengers on the way back

The 2022 match statistics need to be taken with a bit of a grain of salt, however, as Kubler won two Futures tournaments in Canberra, among others. In general, the Challenger competitions were his stage for the most part this year. There he performed quite convincingly, won the title in Little Rock, for example, and reached the final in Orlando, which he had to withdraw from due to injury.

A precautionary measure, because in the qualification for Wimbledon there was not much to see here. The victory in the first round against local hero Dan Evans definitely has to be called a surprise. After all, Evans is a seeded player and had the support of the crowd behind him. Kubler, however, started furiously and never let his opponent get into the match. Not once did he have to give up his serve (Evans only had three opportunities). Kubler was particularly convincing with his second serve. No less than 70 percent of the points went to his account, Evans, on the other hand, had less than 50 percent of the points on his second serve.

The success was not to be expected with such clarity, which means that the bookmakers are favouring the Australian on Thursday’s match between Novak and Kubler.

Dennis Novak – Jason Kubler Direct comparison / H2H balance

Head to Head: 1:0

The only duel so far speaks in favour of the 28-year-old Austrian. Three years ago at the Challenger tournament in Ilkey, also on grass, Dennis Novak prevailed 7-6, 6-3

Dennis Novak – Jason Kubler Tip

The two players not only have the fact that they are qualifiers in common, but also the same age group. Accordingly, the professionals have known each other for a long time and in the run-up to the match Dennis Novak confirmed that he gets on very well with Kubler. Both players would make good use of the world ranking points, but as is well known, these are not available at Wimbledon 2022. The prize money of 139,000 euros for round three is also tempting. There is no clear trend to be seen, it is rather a 50:50 match, so the high odds for the prediction on the Austrian between Novak and Kubler are correspondingly interesting.

The reason for the clear favourite role in favour of the Aussie is certainly that Kubler has delivered strong results so far this year, albeit mostly on the Challenger Tour. In addition, the clear three-set win against Daniel Evans was a clear statement. However, this does not change the fact that two players are facing each other on eye level. Five units are recommended between Dennis Novak and Jason Kubler for the tip on the Austrian, the value with the current betting odds cannot be denied.