Tennis. W/C 18.04.05

[The Saint]

So I can see why the bookies hate taking tennis bets..... Not prepared to up my stakes though... Phychologically not ready too!! Looks desperate in Europe but there's three I like in the US. Apologies for lack of write up but I'm v nearly l8 4 work! Puerta to beat Melzer 1.67 Massa to beat Vanek 1.50 Ginepri to beat Fish 1.58 All at Betfair. Bookies may well priec these up throughout the day so you may well beat the crappy odds I got! 25 Points on all of the above as per usual. 100 point starting bank as per usual. GL any1 who can be arsed to get involved. Still Hungover.:puke

[edtkh]

Re: Tennis. W/C 18.04.05 Alright, some quick picks - can't go into too much detail as lots of these matches are starting soon... From Barcelona : 5pts Llodra to beat Mantilla (3.25 @ Ladbrokes) :( This is absurd - Mantilla is not half the player he was 3 years ago and while I'd go with the logic he ought to be slight favourite here, making him a 1/3 shot is definitely out of the question. I can see Llodra giving him a close match here - wouldn't exactly surprise me either if he gets the boot from the Frenchman. 10pts Wawrinka-Almagro (3.74 @ Ladbrokes) :( I've never understood how is it Wawrinka is eternally so underrated. This chap is a far better player than the books would have you believed and I can certainly see him edging out Garcia-Lopez in a close encounter. Similarly, Feliciano Lopez has been piss poor on clay so far and I just don't expect that to change anytime soon considering he's up against Almagro who just looks so much more comfortable on clay. From US Clay Court Championships : 5pts Minar to beat Blake (3.00 @ Ladbrokes) :( Minar has certainly made an impact on the ATP scene this year, forcing Federer to three sets in a closely-fought final not too long ago. What people have to realise is Blake's game revolves an awful lot around his serve and as most would know, big servers have little edge on clay as the slow surface naturally means an the speed which would accompany the serves on other surfaces are drastically reduced. Take away his serve and you'd see Blake as a very ordinary player - certainly ordinary enough for Minar to give him a match IMO. 20pts Horna-Haas (2.01 @ Ladbrokes) :D Haas is the defending champion here and up against an inexperienced Vliegen, you've just got to fancy the German to see off the unheralded Belgian. Horna is a very decent claycourt player IMO and I'm certainly surprised at the sort of price for which he's available against an aging Enqvist whose favourite surface is obviously not clay - the Peruvian should just edge this out. Cheers & Good Luck! :ok Starting Bank : 100pts