Torque

The Women's final is set and fortunately I'm green no matter what the outcome. I'll be hoping for a Barty win though as that will net me double the return of a Collins win. I've now closed out my position on the Men's side with two final bets, where a Medvedev or Nadal win sees me in profit but a Tsitsipas or Berrettini win sees me taking a loss. 10pts Tsitsipas to win ATP Australian Open @ 6.49 Betfair Exchange 5pts Berrettini to win ATP Australian Open @ 9.82 Betfair Exchange

Nadal got the win and was probably fortunate to do so in the end. When he won the first two sets it looked like it was going to be a routine victory, but after Shapovalov edged the third and then took it to a deciding set it could have gone either way.

I didn't watch Medvedev against Cressy, but I'd be very surprised if the 'negative garbage' didn't make an appearance on multiple occasions with the way that match went.

I can see the arguments for Berrettini as well as the arguments for Nadal. I'm leaning towards Nadal, for the reasons outlined by @Foo_Fighter but I definitely agree with @neilovan about Nadal leaving the ball short potentially causing him problems.

Agree with all of that @neilovan except 'you don't see that negative garbage anymore' - you do see it, most recently against Humbert. Definitely see it less than before though.

Didn't look at all interested to me. It felt like he was going for shots he wouldn't have gone for in the Masters and his pot success was very low. Looked like he wasn't bothered if he won or lost and I've seen that a few times now with him in smaller tournaments. Could be worth opposing him whenever he's a strong favourite and it's not a big tournament.

It's a shame if you can't retrieve them. Data like that would still be useful even if Covid has had an effect. My take is even if it has done, it wouldn't be significant. Just another kind of noise that a bigger dataset is designed not to be corrupted by.

You need a big sample before drawing any conclusions. A very big sample. I'd say five figures. The smaller the dataset the more likely that conclusions are drawn that aren't necessarily correct, like the one you mention about Slams.

Take a look at the incident that led to his booking @StevieDay1983

I'm not taking any match bets today, just a few more outright bets on the exchanges in the shape of Sinner, Collins and Keys. Sinner should have a good chance against Tsitsipas who's not been at his best during this tournament and I think Collins beats Cornet, who had a big win against Halep and wins like that can be hard to back up. I'm adding to my position on Keys because she's always been a momentum player and right now she has momentum on her side. Usually it goes hand in hand with how she's serving and right now she's serving really well. 5pts Sinner to win ATP Australian Open @ 15.70 15pts Collins to win WTA Australian Open @ 14.72 10pts Keys to win WTA Australian Open @ 8.84

Not a huge surprise. Could mean Berrettini is worth taking straight away as the value.

Ahead of the quarter-finals I'm adding a couple of outright bets and also one match bet. In the outrights, I'm adding to my position on Swiatek who really should be beating Kanepi and advancing to the last four. I also want to cover my position on Medvedev with a bet on Nadal and I'll also be backing Nadal in his match against Shapovalov. Across five sets I think Nadal's greater consistency will see him over the line. Shapovalov will have his moments no question and he's beaten Nadal previously, but I think there's been an overreaction to his win over Zverev. As well as Shapovalov played, Zverev was well below the level expected and also seemed to give up a little once it was obvious the match was getting away from him. There'll be nothing like that from Nadal, who'll keep going at maximum intensity until the last point is played. 100pts Nadal to beat Shapovalov @ 1.44 365 35pts Nadal to win ATP Australian Open @ 4.23 Betfair Exchange 10pts Swiatek to win WTA Australian Open @ 5.12 Betfair Exchange

Bet 28 won. Next stake £599.79

I certainly agree with that. And of course you're right to say things change over time. Perhaps that's a good place to finish, otherwise I imagine this could go on and on.

I'm sure there's been times in his career where he's felt like doing it, but he chooses to exercise self-control - which any player could do if they really wanted to. It's a lazy excuse when you hear players say that they can't help it, or that it's just part of the game. Saying it's fine isn't right either and just sends a message to youngsters taking up the game that they can do the same. In some cases, with players who say that smashing a racket up helps them to play better, it's practically encouraging young players to do it. In the interests of drawing a line under the subject and not clogging the thread up, I don't like it. I don't think it's acceptable and I don't think it's necessary. There's now been arguments for it and also against it so all that's left now is for people to make their own minds up about which side of the fence they sit on.