amity

Happy about Errani, but can't see much tomorrow, the bookies seem to be spot on.

Watched some of the tennis today and I thought Berretini was pretty unimpressive aside from when his serve was clicking. Kudla probably should have beaten him in two but couldn't take his break points in the second set. On this evidence I wouldn't be expecting Berretini to go deep at Wimbledon. Way too many unforced errors too. 
Querrey was very disappointing I thought, he just doesn't seem to have much of a tennis brain, service aside his all round game was markedly inferior to Krajinovic, who played some good stuff, but was helped by Querrey's ineptitude. Still though the Serb played with confidence and I'd expect him to overcome the young Brit Peniston in the next match. 

tonights action bets
3pts Holland, Wales and Germany all to win 5-0/5-1 or 5-2 3/1 skybet
2pts New Zealand, Denmark & Canada all to win 7/1 paddypower

The Darts World Cup gets underway tonight. A quirky little event and one that normally provides a ton of entertainment along the way. Here are the players in each team.
England - Smith and Wade
Wales - Price and Clayton
Holland - Noppert and DVD
Belgium - Van Den Bergh and K.Huybrechts
Australia - Heta and Whitlock
N.Ireland - Gurney and Dolan
Germany - Schindler and Clemens
Scotland - Wright and Big Hendo
other selected teams
Austria - Suljovic and Rowby Rod
Canada - J.Smith and Campbell
Ireland -  O'Connor and Lennon

Lots of teams and probably too many to list here but they're the ones who could do some damage on their day in my opinion.
The draw has England and Scotland in the top half meeting at the Quarter Finals if all goes well for them both. I can't see any other QF than that. It might be worth a tiny play though on Czech Republic as Gawlas has played some nice stuff recently and nerves could be there for Wade and Smith in their first game. Scotland and England though, on the whole should be QF 1.
In the 2nd quarter we will likely have Belgium taking on Australia in my eyes. Belgium come into this with form as Van Den Bergh has just won a PDC ranking event and Kim has just performed pretty decently at the last Players Championship. Nobody in that draw should bother them until Australia in the QF. Australia are a good world cup team who work well together and I think Australia probably beats Belgium here to take the quarter and also in my eyes are a great shot at winning this.
Down into the bottom half and we're probably looking at Wales taking on Austria in R2. I'm not sure that's going to be as straight forward as people think. Rowby on the big stage has looked good and perhaps could be the star player of the two now that Mensur has slipped down the rankings. I think Wales comes through but largely thanks to Clayton. I think they'll play Germany and I think Germany will give them an even bigger test. Germany are such a hard one to call because they have two players that are very similar. Clemens and Schindler, both on their day are world class but they are very hit and miss and it's a difficult one to call, this quarter. Wales if i'm pushed.
In the final quarter we have Holland taking on Ireland or Canada in R2. Ireland Vs Canada is probably the only tie in R1 that is hard to call. Not that every favourite is 100% to win but based on what we've seen. I would say that Holland beat either and so for me the Quarter final looks like Holland Vs Northern Ireland. Gurney is playing some good stuff but could potentially be let down by Dolan. Holland for me look a good choice this World Cup
QF 1 Prediction - Scotland Vs England  
QF 2 Prediction - Australia Vs Belgium
QF 3 Prediction - Wales Vs Germany 
QF 4 Prediction - Holland Vs Ireland
SF Prediction - England Vs Australia and Germany Vs Holland
Bets
2pts e/w Holland to win World Cup 6/1 paddypower
2pts e/w Australia to win World Cup 10/1 bet365
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1pt e/w Germany to win World Cup 33/1 betvictor
1pt e/w Austria to win World Cup 40/1 bet365
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1pt C.Republic to win 1st Quarter 14/1 paddypower
1pt Austria to win 3rd Quarter 6/1 paddypower

very nice

I thought to myself did anybody go with the same and go for Scott Williams and I'm glad they did. You're welcome. Personally, I am wounded as I knew his first event win was coming and it was the one time I didn't back it. Glad somebody did though. Odds must have been huge.

Sara Errani to beat Lucrezia Stefanini at 1.61 with Pinnacle
Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to be betting on Errani on grass, but the Gaiba conditions are so specific with their incredibly low bounce that I have to back the more experienced player in this one. She beat another tricky and experienced player in Brengle in the previous round, so she should be primed for a match-up like this, against a younger Italian player that defeated Diatchenko, who I certainly wouldn't fancy to navigate such conditions, in round one.

A new Players Championship today and tomorrow and no MVG. Cullen or Clayton today and so i'm keen to try some bigger prices at tiny stakes ofcourse. 12 and half pts staked. all 4 places.

2.5pts single win Humphries 9/1 paddypower
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1pt e/w Cross to win 20/1 paddypower
1pt e/w Noppert to win 25/1 paddypower
1pt e/w Schindler to win 50/1 paddypower
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0.25pts e/w Gilding to win 150/1 paddypower
0.25pts e/w Doets to win 150/1 paddypower
0.25pts e/w O'Shea to win 200/1 paddypower
0.25pts e/w Nentjes to win 300/1 paddypower
0.25pts e/w De Decker to win 300/1 paddypower
0.25pts e/w Rafferty to win 300/1 paddypower
0.25pts e/w S.Williams to win 300/1 paddypower
0.25pts e/w Girvan to win 400/1 paddypower

After Korda, Samsonova and McNally all won, it was looking like it was going to be a good day. Unfortunately, Brooksby was beyond bad in his match. When a player you've backed can't hold serve from 40-0 and can't break from 0-40 you know it's not going to be your day. 

Andy Roddick's victory at the 2003 USO was the last time an American male won a Grand Slam. Shocking. Tennis is a sport which is growing worldwide but struggling to survive in the United States. Nobody seems capable of giving even a glimpse of the glorious past (Connors, McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi). I find it a bit humiliating for a nation like the United States, to have this long drought in men's tennis. Some say that Roger Federer undermined the fate of American tennis (Andy Roddick, James Blake) with his extraordinary dominance in the '00s. I don't know. One thing is certain, there's an absence of an American male superstar... It's time the USTA did something about this. 
Having said that, Americans are traditionally targeting Wimbledon with plenty of hope and ambition. The transition process from clay to grass doesn't bother them simply because they tend to skip the clay court season or because they're so poor on clay that they lose in the early rounds of the tournaments, hence being well rested for the grass court season which they all love. Also, Wimbledon is probably the most prestigious tournament in tennis; they can't afford to make the trip from America and show up overly weak and vulnerable. The axe from the media will fall heavily. 
I requested the following bet and my local bookmaker just issued it:
Any American player to reach SF, F or be the Winner ? @25.5 
Maybe it's silly, who knows. 

Jackpot on Medjedovic as usual, the serb is going forward faster and faster. I reccon he'll be established as top challenger player in less than 2 seasons forward.

I thought Ruud might be able to take a set which would have asked the question of Nadal's fitness, but sadly he's just not turned up. Too many unforced errors and the times he's given himself a chance in the match, like getting back on serve in the first set and going a break ahead in the second, he's not been able to consolidate. Nadal isn't even playing that well from what I can see.

Poor effort from Ruud. Losing is fine but he's given up.

And of course I have mentioned Coco is also playing the Doubles Final (tomorrow) was to highlight that she has played many more matches compared to Swiatek in the same span of time which is a disadvantage to her. 
This is one of the reasons that I am taking Swiatek to win the final in straight sets.

Tsitsipas had the air as he trudged off of a player that knew he was nowhere near the level required to compete at this tournament. Rune played very well regardless of what Tsitsipas was doing, but I'll be surprised if he goes much further and certainly his talk about winning the tournament is premature to say the least.

For me, Alcaraz or Djokovic. One of the two will lift the trophy, and i think Djokovic looks as monster of tennis intelligence against everybody.
From the bottom half nobody is even near to challenge either Alcaraz and of course Djokovic
Rune is good, but i am not crazy of what i have seen from him today. He has potential yes, we are talking for now.
So now Rune no chance to beat either of the two. Tsitsipas was playing as having only forehand. Not a big issue for me to beat Tsitsipas these days...

Might have been better for the handicap if she hadn't...

Qinwen Zheng (+7.5) to beat Iga Swiatek at 1.70 with Pinnacle
Obviously I don't expect to see an upset here, but this is getting ridiculous given that this is a Grand Slam, that Zheng beat a (limited) Halep, and that Swiatek didn't have the best of days against Kovinic. Zheng can play attacking tennis and produce some neat serves, she's the new generation of Chinese players and has absolutely nothing to lose here. 

I can definitely see that happening if Tsitsipas has his usual drop, Rune is definitely better than both Ymer and Kolar.

That's the end of my day. Giorgi's win cancelled out the Jeanjean loss and the acca loss. Tsitsipas beat Ymer in impressive fashion which will hopefully mean he heads into the next round full of confidence after a couple of frustrating performances from his perspective.

Not a bad day for me in the end. It started off looking like Teichmann was going to lose, but she managed to turn it around and then both Nadal and Alcaraz scored comprehensive victories. Nadal's was expected, but Alcaraz was far more dominant than probably even he thought was possible, especially after his struggles in the last round and against an opponent who beat him the last time they played. Djokovic remains the favourite in the betting and he was an easy winner against Bedene. It'll be interesting to see how he gets on when he meets an opponent capable of pushing him and the same can be said for Nadal bearing in mind his injury problems prior to the tournament.

Here's my first tip:
I think the first option here is definitely worth a bet, Paula is currently no. 6 in the rankings and has a great chance of finishing top 10 this year. 6/4 with Paddy Power. 
A small stake on top 5 is I think also worth a shot, although obviously less certain than top 10. 11/2 with Paddy Power. 
And a very small amount on top 3 in case she has a stellar year. 12/1 with Paddy Power. 
 

Quiet day today with only the treble and one outright in action. The treble just about came in, but it wasn't looking good when Sinner, who was the shortest leg, lost the first set and then headed towards even money at the start of the second when facing break points. Thankfully he managed to save those points and then break before serving out the set from 0-40. After that he won the third set without much fuss, before going a break behind in the forth after failing to hold from 40-15. Carballes Baena then repeated that trick to hand the break back and then Sinner held after saving a break point before Carballes Baena outdid his previous service game by getting broken from 40-0. That seemed to break the Spaniard's resistance as a relatively easy hold from Sinner followed, before Carballes Baena had to save a load of break points to keep the deficit to just one break. Sinner then held serve in another nervy game where he had to recover from 0-30, which left Carballes Baena needing to hold serve to stay in the match. He got to 30-0 before losing four points in a row to hand victory to Sinner. Based on that performance, Sinner is going home as soon as he meets a better clay court player than Carballes Baena - he just doesn't have nous to win on clay at this level yet.
The outright of mine that was in action was Tsitsipas, and I'm not going to add too much to what I wrote earlier whilst he was playing his match. It's going to be very difficult for him to go much further, both because of fatigue and also because his return game just isn't there right now. For as well as Kolar played - and he did play really well - creating only twelve break points and taking just three of those points across four sets isn't good enough, particularly when you compare it to someone like Alcaraz who although wasteful created nearly twice as many break points during the first four sets of his match against Ramos-Vinolas. That lack of cutting edge on return is what led to three tie-breaks and such a long match and it doesn't matter who you're playing against, your chances of winning a set diminish at the tie-break stage. Tsitsipas won the second set breaker, lost the third and should have lost the forth. On another day he'd have been taken to five sets and maybe even have lost the match because of his inability to break.

Waffles vs Crêpes, Outcome: Waffles ??
?? ??

Amazing, I think Radacanu is the biggest fluke in woman's tennis. I back her opponents all the time. Today I don't and Sasnovich cleans her up 1 and 1 in the last 2 sets ?
 
Two bets I like today would be Baez to probably win a set against Zverev and cover the +6.5 handicap. They were very close at the Italian Open, and I am hoping that Baez will play those close points better this time.
I think Korda is gonna lose to Gasquet. The French crowds have been very vocal, got Gaston over the line yesterday. I think it will boost Gasquet, who is playing deceptively well.