Category: Tennis

US Men’s Clay Court Championship Betting: Two real outsiders with a real chance

This week the ATP Tour moves to the dirt of Houston where Sean Calvert thinks American Wayne Odesnik has a real chance at a big price in a tournament where he’s shone in the past. Plus another outsider who can “go deep” this week… “Korolev has a 2-0 head-to-head record against Querrey with both matches taking place on hard courts, which is the American’s best surface, so you would have to like Korolev’s chances of making the semi finals.” Last week’s advice to avoid the big four and back a bigger-priced player, such as Andy Roddick, paid off in the end in Miami as the American took the title. The glamour of Key Biscayne is now over and we head west to Houston for the next event. The US Men’s Clay Court Championship has been around since 1910, but moved location plenty of times before sticking in Texas, where it’s been held for the last 10 years. This is no ordinary clay court tournament though as a look at previous winners of the event shows plenty of big hitters, such as Ivo Karlovic and Andy Roddick ; even Pete Sampras made the final here once.

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Apr 06, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Women’s Tennis Betting: What we’ve learned so far in 2010

The conclusion of the Miami Open brings an end to the first quarter of this WTA season. Guy McCrea discusses some of the top stories in women’s tennis from the first three months of 2010 … “The retirement this month of one time Australian and French Open semi-finalist Nicole Vaidisova at just 20-years-old illustrates that a return to winning ways is not guaranteed.” Venus Rising At the start of 2010, many questioned not just whether Venus Williams – 4.5 on Betfair to win Wimbledon – would be able to win WTA titles this season, but even if she would stick around until the end of the year. Venus’ recent injury record, plus her mediocre performances at Grand Slam singles level since winning Wimbledon 2008 made it difficult to disagree.

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Apr 05, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Sony Ericsson Final Betting: Hands up if you backed Berdych

Sean Calvert is scratching is head as to how Andy Roddick and Tomas Berdych have made the final in Miami but made it they have and the American looks a worthy favourite to go on and win it . The pair have met seven times in total, with Roddick leading 5-2 and they have played each other twice this year, with the American winning both times – on outdoor hard in Brisbane and indoor hard in San Jose.” It’s official – the Sony Ericsson Open is a punters’ nightmare. If anyone out there had Tomas Berdych to hammer Robin Soderling in straight sets and Andy Roddick to beat Rafa Nadal from a set down in the semi finals, then I salute you. For the rest of us mere mortals who have to attempt to utilise stats, form, history, conditions, etc the post-Miami funds are looking rather sickly. On the positive side, I did predict defeats for all of the big four in my tournament preview and advised a bet on one of the bigger priced players, of which Roddick at 20.0 was on my short list of four, so it’s not all bad. For those who got on Berdych at 140.0 at the start of the tournament I can only say ‘what were you thinking!’ but for reasons that nobody can explain, it’s paid off somehow. So, for the last time in this event, here are the relevant facts and stats for the Miami Masters Final 2010. Whoever wins will end a lengthy Masters Series drought – Roddick’s last Masters title came in Cincinnati back in 2006 and Berdych last struck Masters gold in Paris a year earlier in 2005.

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Apr 04, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Sony Ericsson Daily Bets: Nadal and Soderling should make the final

Sean Calvert previews today’s semi-finals in Miami where Rafael Nadal should be able to handle the Andy Roddick serve and Robin Soderling should make light work of an exhausted Tomas Berdych.
“One of Roddick’s two wins came way back in 2004 and Nadal has won the
last three in a row, all on different [...]

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Apr 02, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Sony Ericsson Open Thursday Daily Tips: A rare case of betting on Berdych

Sean Calvert knows that both Tomas Berdych and Fernando Verdasco are guilty of pushing the self-destruct button but a positive head-to-head record and the confidence gained from beating Roger Federer, makes the Czech the call. “Berdych is slight favourite at 1.93 , presumably based upon his thrashing of Verdasco at Indian Wells less than a fortnight ago and the Czech has an overall lead of 5-3 in their personal head-to-head series and a 3-1 lead on hard courts.” There was a great late night show over at the Crandon Park Tennis Centre in Key Biscayne in the early hours, as Rafa Nadal bludgeoned his way past Jo Wilfired Tsonga and into the semi finals. Sadly, Nicolas Almagro was unable to take the numerous chances that he created against Andy Roddick and in the end managed to beat himself, which brings us on to today’s remaining quarter finals. The first of which is between two other masters of the art of beating themselves, namely Fernando Verdasco and Tomas Berdych and this is not a betting match for the feint-hearted. In fact it’s pretty much akin to betting on two flies crawling up a wall, but lets see what the key facts are in this one. Berdych is slight favourite at 1.93 , presumably based upon his thrashing of Verdasco at Indian Wells less than a fortnight ago and the Czech has an overall lead of 5-3 in their personal head-to-head series and a 3-1 lead on hard courts. He also beat Roger Federer in the last round for the first time since 2004, so you would think that Berdych is a fairly comfortable favourite on the strength of that, but wait..

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Apr 01, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Tennis Betting: Will the best man please stand up?

In previous years we could rely on the best to win and keep winning but the big names have been strangely wobbly this year. Simon Mundie questions why “It looked like this could be Andy Murray ’s year when he reached the final of the Australian Open, but that defeat to Federer seems to have done real damage to the Scot. Janko Tipsarevic, Robin Soderling and then a drubbing at the hands of Mardy Fish speak of deep rooted ills.” So, Roger Federer suffered another early defeat this week, humbled by the talented but inconsistent Thomas Berdych. Since the Australian Open, the world number one has had something of a miserable time on court, losing in the third round of Indian Wells to Marcos Baghdatis and the fourth round in Miami. Hardly the form of the world’s best player . Fine, the Swiss maestro saves his best tennis for the Grand Slams these days, but still he’s not playing anywhere near the level he would want to be

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Apr 01, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Sony Ericsson Open Daily Tips: Nadal is late night value

There have been some insane results in Miami over the last couple of days. Sean Calvert believes that order will be restored today as the world number three bids to stop a mercurial Frenchman. “The late match, at 2am UK time, is Tsonga v Nadal and I can’t see Tsonga producing two stunning performances in a row, which he will need to do, so Nadal looks good at 1.6 for a late night punt.” Insanity prevailed once more at the Sony Ericsson Open on Tuesday as Roger Federer crashed out to Tomas Berdych – yes, that Tomas Berdych – the Czech wastrel for whom the phrase ‘unfulfilled talent’ was invented for. Also on Tuesday, Benjamin Becker almost took a set off Andy Roddick and Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Fernando Verdasco decided to become tennis players for the day. Under these bizarre circumstances, I’m happy to have won again with Nicolas Almagro , although quite how the Spaniard managed it in front of a partisan crowd that would put most home South American Davis Cup ties to shame I’m not quite sure. Onto Wednesday and only two matches to choose from, which are Roddick v Almagro and Rafa Nadal v Tsonga. First up is the Roddick match, so we’ll start with that one.

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Mar 31, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Sony Ericsson Open Daily Tips: Bye-bye Bellucci

No, that’s not Thomaz Bellucci – it’s namesake Monica Bellucci – but as Sean Calvert is predicting an exit for the Brazillian tennis player we thought we’d use a pic of the Italian film star instead
“We’ve done well with Nicolas Almagro this weekand that run looks set to continue when he [...]

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Mar 30, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Sony Ericcson Open Daily Tips: Stan can land Monday gamble

Sean Calvert picks the best of the bets from Miami “Stanislas Wawrinka has been concentrating on other things lately, with the arrival of his first child, but he’s back now and more than capable of defeating Youzhny on this surface.” It was a bit of an up and down day at the Crandon Park Tennis Centre yesterday, with two winners and two losers. David Ferrer cruised past Ivo Karlovic in straight sets as predicted and Nicolas Almagro took out Jeremy Chardy in three, but my outside tip Oliver Rochus lost , as did Tommy Robredo in one of the most bizarre games of tennis you’ll ever see. Monday features several competitive-looking match-ups and with some of tennis’s flakiest performers on show today, you might want to pick and choose carefully in the last of the men’s third round matches. For example, at 1.2 , I wouldn’t bet on Tomas Berdych to beat my sister , let alone a fellow professional tennis player, while the same could be said of Fernando Verdasco at 1.4 against Jurgen Melzer.

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Mar 29, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Tennis Betting: The truth about players’ earnings

Armed with a dizzying array of dollars and cents, Simon Mundie crunches the numbers to argue that, compared with the world’s other top entertainers, tennis players salaries might not be as exorbitant as they appear. “The tournament which offers the most prize money is the US Open, with a staggering $1,600,000 up for grabs for the winner.” So far this year, Roger Federer has earned more than two million dollars for his on-court endeavors – no mean feat bearing in mind we are barely a quarter of the way through the year. The world number one holds the record for career earnings, having amassed more than 55 million dollars in winnings. You can be sure that he will have made somewhere near double that amount, if not more, with his endorsements and off court pursuits; his Nike contract alone is worth $10 million every year .

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Mar 29, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post
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