Wimbledon Preview
Strawberries and cream. The oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. “Predominantly” white dress code. Rain delays. Purple umbrellas. Cliff Richard. Jana Novotna sobbing on the Duchess of Kent’s shoulder. Samprass. Federer. Roddick the nearly man. Nadal in five. Edberg. A 17 year old Becker throwing himself around centre court like a volleyball player. Serve and volley. New balls please…
Ah the memories. But you haven’t stumbled upon this betting blog for nostalgia. You want hard, fast betting advice and red hot tips. So here’s my betting preview for the 2013 Wimbledon Championships (or, as the purists would have it, “The Championships, Wimbledon”).
Men’s Event
In my betting preview for the French Open, I said I’d rather have a lottery ticket than bet the 20-1 Federer on a clay tournament featuring a resurgent Nadal, Djokovic, and a number of players better than him (Ferrer, Tsonga etc). Well I’m afraid I’m going to say the same here. At around 6-1 the “Fed Express” represents shocking value. Tennis is a young man’s game and the remainder of the big four simply have too many weapons. Federer is being priced up based on his past form.
I make Djokovic a bet. He very nearly beat an in-his-prime Nadal on the latter’s favourite surface (remember he was up a break in the fifth) and things should be much easier on grass this time around. Murray is a fair price, but he was longer than this for last year’s US Open (backed by yours truly) and he much prefers the hard courts of Flushing. Nadal is an all-time great, but he’s never convinced me on grass, and there’s the added worry of his creaky knees. Surely he can only go to the well so many times.
If you fancy more of a “value bet” (ie bigger than 10-1) look no further than young Milos Raionic. This 22 yo Canadian (by way of the old Yugoslavia) has the all weapons to give the big boys a shock.
Women’s Event
Before the French Open I made a promise with myself to stop wasting my money getting against Serena Williams. For years now I try to “find one to beat her” and my betfair account always looks a lot less healthy by the end of the fortnight. So I’m going to try the opposite approach today. I’m going to advise you to BACK her at around 4-7.
The knock on Serena is that she picks and chooses her tournaments and can’t always be bothered with the smaller events (remind you of a certain snooker player?). But she’s chosen to enter this one, so that needn’t affect us. She’s simply the best player in history and shows no sign of slowing down. Not sure what more you need to know here – can’t see why she isn’t 1-3.
If you fancy an interest bet on a “live outsider” look no further than Petra Kvitová. She’s a crazy price for a former champion. And remember my “live outsider” for the French Open (David Ferrer) made the final.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck with your French Open bets.
