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The buzz created by Nadal's win at Queens is ringing round the courts at SW19 -could this be the year the Spanish left-hander finally breaks Roger Federer's five-year stranglehold on the Wimbledon Men's title? And who'll succeed Venus Williams as Ladies champion -or maybe she'll win it for the fifth time?
Wimbledon Preview
Although we are unlikely to see the serve/volley tactics of days gone by when Becker, Edberg and Henman were all the rage -the serve is still a very potent weapon on the grass at Wimbledon. Expect all the guys on our list of the game's top servers to perform well this year and to provide us with plenty of tie-breaks!
Top 15 Men's Serves
1. Ivo Karlovic
2. Andy Roddick
3. Ivan Ljubicic
4. Robin Soderling
5. Roger Federer
6. Michael Llodra
7. Novak Djokovic
8. Nicolas Almagro
9. Radek Stepanek
10. Tomas Berdych
11. Mario Ancic
12. Sam Querry
13. Mardy Fish
14. Chris Guccione
15. Janko Tipsarevic
Inaccurate weather forecasts and over-priced strawberries can only mean one thing - the return of Wimbledon. The bookies have made Federer clear favourite to lift the men's title for the third year in a row, but let's face it, it wouldn't be Wimbledon without the odd upset.
If you've seen the seedings and are tempted to have a punt on the tournament, you should have a look at the spread betting markets served up by Sporting Index. With £100 free cash on offer to new clients* (see below for full details), and a massive range of markets to bet on (including Total Tournament Tie-Breaks and Longest Final Set) you could be celebrating with a jug of Pimm's, no matter who lifts the trophy! Here are our thoughts on the draw to help you get started:
Paper Tiger
In the men's draw, four of the five top seeds have won a Grand Slam and also been ranked World Number One at some point. Roger Federer, the defending champ and current Number One, may be the hottest odds-on favourite in years to lift the trophy, and the draw's been kind to the Swiss maestro. He shouldn't even have to break sweat to reach the quarter-finals.
In contrast, second seed Andy Roddick can't be thrilled at the prospect of a potential second round meeting with giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic, a repeat of the Stella Artois final. Sporting Index are offering Ace Supremacy and Total Aces markets throughout the tournament - it'll be interesting to see what their predictions are for that particular match!
French Open champion Rafael Nadal may not yet have reached number one, but is sure to catch the public's attention, despite being somewhat of an unknown quantity on grass. The Spanish prodigy's incredible speed and retrieval skills may prove insufficient on grass when exposed to a specialist's serve and volley tactics. However a fair draw has given him a chance to adapt in the early rounds, before a potential meeting with yet another exciting teenage prospect - Richard Gasquet - in Round 3.
Wimbledon champ of 2002, Lleyton Hewitt, has a tricky quarter of the draw to negotiate with Safin, Ancic, and a returning Philippoussis to contend with. The Aussie could be in for a very tough tournament, and it won't be a surprise to see him heading home early. Tim Henman will be hoping for faster conditions than recent years - perhaps the All-England Club's new policy of opening the balls on court, rather than a week before, could do the trick for a British victory! Yet another favourable draw for the 'Tiger' sees him with a fairly comfortable run, until a potential meeting with old adversary Grosjean. If he does manage to beat the Frenchman, he may be left with the simple task of beating Federer in order to reach the final!
In the women's event Maria Sharapova looks to be the player to beat. The 18-year-old has won her last 17 matches on grass, including of course last year's event. She'll face stiff competition, however, from the likes of Serena Williams, who has reached the final on her last three visits here. Watch out for feisty Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, who has won her last four tournaments, and of course Lindsay Davenport who should never be underestimated.
£100 Cash for New Clients**
Hopefully that's given you plenty to think about. If you haven't got a Sporting Index account yet, it's a good time to take advantage of the £100 cash on offer. Open an account* and place five bets, where each bet could win or lose £20, and you can claim a free £100 straight into your account**. That's not all, if your first bet is a loser Sporting Index will also refund your losses, up to £50!** - click here to open an account
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Sporting Index offer a huge number of spread betting markets on tennis. You can bet on:
1. The number of games in any match - several variations of this including the 'x courts' bet as explained below.
2. One player to beat another - the more he/she wins by, the more you win.
3. The number of aces in the tournament
4. The number of dueces in a match
5. The mens/womens winner etc etc
There are so many different bets, we cannot detail them all here. However if tennis is a game that you feel you know a lot about, have a look at Sporting Index and go to their tennis section where all bets are explained. As you will see, you can bet on all matches and the range and type of bets is staggering. It is also GREAT FUN and can be very profitable.
Also, when betting on the mens/womens winner or other tournament bets, you can trade
in or out as the tournament progresses. So if you buy Federer at the start of the tournament and he makes it to the 1/4 finals, you could trade out of your bet before he plays in the 1/4's and make a reasonable profit. In other words, you can always cash your bets in at any time to lock any profit in - you don't have to wait until the tournament finishes for you to profit. See our in running page for more details.
We've provided a few tennis spread betting examples below:
Tennis X Courts Example - Henman playing Hewitt in the 1/4 final at Wimbledon. The spread for the 'Tennis X Courts' bet in this game is set at 94 -97. The points are made up by multiplying the number of games Hewitt wins in each set by the number of games Henman wins (ie 6 - 4 = 6 x 4 = 24) and then adding these totals up. So if you think that it will be a really close 5 set match you would buy, but if you think it will be one sided you would sell.
Say it is close and you bought for £2 per point at 97:
It goes to 5 sets with Hewitt winning the final set and the scoring is as follows:
6 - 4 (6 x4 =24)
5 -7 (35)
7 - 6 (42)
3 - 6 (18)
7 -5 (35)
The total number of points would be 24 + 35 + 42 + 18 + 35 = 154. You would therefore win 154 - 97 = 57 points at £2 per point = £114.
However if it had been pretty one sided, with Hewitt winning 3 sets to nil, you would probably lose, unless each set went to a tie break ie 7-6, 7-6, 7-6. Obviously in this example, the closer the game the more you will win if you've bought. Where you've sold, you clearly want a quick and very one sided game! |
Rusedski playing Federer. Total number of games is set at 34 - 37. If you think that it will be close, and go to 4 or maybe 5 sets, you would BUY at 37. Alternatively, if you think one player will win easily you would sell at 34.
The final total is simply the total number of games in the match - ie 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 would be 41. A BUYER would win, a SELLER would lose. It really is very simple.
How much you win or lose would depend upon how much per point you bet with. This can be anything from £1 to whatever you an afford. |
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