Wimbledon Betting Preview: Gael Monfils vs. Ugo Humbert

On Tuesday, July 1, the All England Club will be the host of an all-French battle. Ugo Humbert, a dangerous grass-court player, is set to take on fellow countryman Gael Monfils, and this is a match that could bring some fireworks. This has been an odd season for both players, but Humbert has been finding his game lately. And Monfils is always a threat to turn things up a notch on a big stage. With that in mind, this is a match that could turn into a hard-fought battle.

In that type of slugfest, I’ll take some games with Monfils.

Monfils’ recent form is hard to get excited about. He’s coming into this event on a three-match losing streak, and he didn’t look right physically in a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Mackenzie McDonald at Queen’s Club. However, that match was two weeks ago, so I’m hoping the 38-year-old has had enough time to recover. If he has, there are reasons to believe Monfils can hang around here.

While Monfils hasn’t been winning matches, the losses have all been pretty close. He battled Jack Draper in a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 loss at Roland Garros, and his loss against Alex Michelsen in Stuttgart was a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 defeat. He hasn’t been getting blown off the court, and that’s because he’s still one of the best servers in the game. In fact, Monfils’ 84.5% hold percentage in 2025 is the second-highest mark of his career. And having that type of big service game gives you a high floor during grass season.

Humbert is another big server, so Monfils will have trouble breaking him. But the reality is that this is a match in which breaks should be hard to come by, which is why 4.5 games seems like a lot.

Monfils has also been quite successful against Humbert in his career. The last time these two played was in Shanghai last year, when Monfils won 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-1. He’s now 2-1 in the three matches these two have finished against one another—which happen to be the three most recent matches they have played. One of the matches they didn’t finish was a meeting in this very tournament. In 2019, Humbert was up 6-7 (6), 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 3-0 when Monfils was forced to retire with an injury. But that was another match in which things were extremely tight.

As long as Monfils is close to full strength, he should be able to serve his way to another close match—and possibly even pull this upset.

Pick: Monfils +4.5 Games (-122)