Tennis Masters Series : Hamburg (9th - 15th May 2005)

[edtkh]

It seems interest in tennis is dwindling by the day in PL, but I'll start a thread for the Hamburg Masters nonetheless - for those who know a thing or two about the sport, do feel free to contribute to make for a livelier discussion. ;) 30pts Roddick-Grosjean (1.96 @ Ladbrokes) :( While Roddick is by no means the greatest claycourt player around, there's little doubt he has improved his claycourt performances a great deal over the last year. His opponent, Massu, however, has done very little since clinching Gold at the Athens Olympics last summer and has been in atrocious form all year, losing to all and sundry - he'd come close to being whitewashed by Henman just last week in Rome. I just can't see how he could give Roddick too many problems considering Massu wasn't the greatest claycourt player at his peak to begin with, nevermind the fact he's hardly a semi-decent player at the moment. Similarly, Grosjean at 1.40 to beat Joachim Johansson is simply licence to print money. Johansson's first round defeat to Seppi at the Rome Masters a week ago is quite simply one of the worst claycourt performances I've had the misfortune of watching in my lifetime - and I'm not exagerrating one bit, it was that bad! For the top local seed at the upcoming French Open not to beat an out-of-sorts and totally incompetent player on clay in the form of J Johansson would just be unthinkable. Nevertheless, 1.40 is certainly massive value for a bet I'd gladly settle for 1.25. :tongue2 10pts T Johansson-Ancic (3.75 @ Ladbrokes) :( Johansson should have little trouble making the second round just as he did in Rome a week ago - it's laughable Chela starts this one as an odds-on favourite against the Swede. I've said ever so often Johansson is a solid and effective player who has got a game that suits him on all surfaces and more often than not, helps him beat mediocre players. Clearly, Chela will fit that bill to a T given the fact he's not entirely convincing on clay and he also has a terrible knack of failing to whole serves which I feel will cost him dear against Johansson. 2.25 certainly looks to big to be given a miss. Similarly, Ancic has been unfortunate not to have made a bigger impact on clay than he has so far this year. I personally don't believe Ancic's record on clay does his ability justice considering he's had the beating of classy claycourt players like Kuerten on his CV - in Rome, he was just unfortunate to be drawn against an in-form Stepanek who proved what a durable player he was even against the very finest in Nadal. That said, Mayer is no better and even if he's got the home crowd backing him, I don't think his inefficiencies on clay will be sufficient for him to turn this match on its head and dominate Ancic from the baseline. :hope Cheers & Good Luck! :ok Starting Bank : 100pts

[harryg]

Re: Tennis Masters Series : Hamburg (9th - 15th May 2005) Have been following your selections and have made a profit. Backed Coria yesterday but could not be disapointed with his effort, if everthing i backed tried like that, what a match. Keep up the good work thanks.