The clay season certainly ended in style as Stan Wawrinka put in one of the standout performances of the season to deny Novak Djokovic a full set of Grand Slams at the French Open in Paris. Meanwhile, in the women’s event, Serena Williams fought of the challenge of Lucie Safarova to bag the 20th Grand Slam title of her career.

The action now switches to the short but challenging grass court season for the build up to the third Grand Slam of the year at Wimbledon in southwest London. The tournament gets underway on June 29 with Djokovic and Williams the early favourites to win the men’s and women’s titles respectively.

Before the Wimbledon punters start cracking open the champagne and eating their strawberries and cream there are plenty of other grass court titles to be decided. The men will compete in Den Bosch, Stuttgart, Halle, London and Nottingham while the women head to Nottingham, Den Bosch, Birmingham and Eastbourne. These events can give punters a clue to who is in form on the grass circuit this summer although the top players often save their best for the main event.

For those looking for early betting opportunities, the current price of 24/1 with Betfair for Simona Halep to win the women’s title looks like great value. Other bookies are also offering up to 18/1 at this early stage. The Romanian’s price dropped after she was dumped out of the French Open at the second round stage by bogey opponent Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. At the start of 2015, many pundits suggested that this would be the year that Halep would bag her first Grand Slam title after racing to the No. 2 spot in the world rankings. A semi-final appearance at Wimbledon last year and a WTA title at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in 2013 prove that she is capable of performing on this surface.

Good value is not so obvious in the early betting prices for the men’s event with Novak Djokovic hovering around evens with most bookmakers. However, the stats show that Roger Federer and Andy Murray have the best grass court records of all the players at this year’s event. The Swiss player is 131-19 on grass while Murray’s statistics weigh in at 78-16. With Federer in his twilight years but still at No. 2 in the world and Murray nearly back to his best, both players look like good prospects for this year’s title. Federer can be backed at a tempting 6/1 with Bet365 while the Scot is currently available at a less generous 10/3.

(Prices correct at time of writing)