Roger Federer Odds Drifting to win 2010 French OpenRafael Nadal's success on the clay courts in Monte Carlo is making Federer a longer second favorite.
Roger Federer has been idle on tour since losing in Miami however his odds in the futures market to win the 2010 French Open have been drifting even recently. Rafael Nadal appears to be the reason why as his complete dominance at the Monte Carlo Masters has lead to his odds shortening (you can still bet Nadal at -175, 4/7). When the favorite shortens, the other favorites are usually lengthened to keep everything in balance.
The general price on Federer to win the 2010 French Open is +275 (11/4) and he is the defending champion from Roland Garros. However Fed has been off form lately and while he does play his best tennis at the Grand Slams you should probably wait if you were planning to back him.
The reason you would want to wait is because Nadal is a -400 favorite to win the ATP Barcelona Open, another clay court event. There's no one else besides Nadal in the field in that tournament that has been given a good chance to win (Robin Soderling is the second favorite at 14 to 1) and if Nadal does in fact take down back to back titles on clay, his odds to win the French Open might start trending toward -300 or shorter. Should that occur you could then expect Federer to drift out to +350 (7/2) for a best price and then you won't have to hit his odds up so hard to get a good return on a winning bet.
Recommendations for the 2010 French Open: Nadal backers need to bet now, Federer backers should be waiting.
crunchsports.com
The stakes are highest for Rafael Nadal in Monte CarloNadal will arrive in Monaco for the start of the clay court season this weekend on the back of 13 tournaments without a trophy - a losing streak that would bankrupt even those with the deepest pockets.
The 24-year-old has been in decline since Robin Soderling unceremoniously sent him packing from his beloved Roland Garros last year and his weakened knees and bruised ego have yet to fully recover.
Nadal's knee problems have been well-documented. Tendinitis in both ensured the Spaniard could not defend his Wimbledon crown last summer while for the remainder of last season Nadal was effectively running on empty.
A winter break saw a leaner Nadal return to the court in 2010. The biceps were not as bulging and while he insisted otherwise, the mighty Majorcan did not pack as menacing a punch as he once did.
No doubt in a bid to alleviate the strain on his knees, Nadal was notably streamlined but as a side effect, did not strike fear into his opponents as he did when ruling the roost from August 2008 to last July.
Flashes of the form that saw him usurp Roger Federer as tennis' deity have been evident this season, but all too infrequent. His failure to win a trophy since last May demonstrates his decline into the mortal ranks.
And in his most recent grand slam appearance, Nadal was brought to his knees by eventual finalist Andy Murray at the Australian Open. The noises being made by Nadal remain positive however.
"I am playing well," said Nadal. "I had very good matches in these two tournaments in Miami and Indian Wells.
"I think I am ready to play my best. I'm just going to try my best in Monte Carlo now.
"Physically, I'm on good form. I no longer worry about my knee. I'm not scared of running hard. I think that my forehand is back to doing damage."
But the current world number three must act soon - Argentine powerhouse Juan Martin Del Potro and Murray to name just two - are threatening to exile Nadal from tennis' top table for good.
Nadal, however, will head to Monte Carlo hoping for a reversal of fortunes and the odds are favourable.
He has lifted the trophy on his last five visits to Monaco, has a total of 25 tournament victories on clay and until Soderling blew him off court last season has been invincible at the French Open since 2005.
Clay will also be kinder on his knees than the unforgiving hard courts which have hitherto been the ATP battlegrounds this season.
But Nadal is not the only one with something to prove in Monte Carlo. Murray began the clay court season last year riding the crest of a wave, having just won the Miami Masters but the Scot floundered in Florida this time around and was shown the door by Mardy Fish.
The world number four has never cut the mustard on clay but he arrives back in Europe only too aware he must arrest his recent woes and has tweaked his schedule to include a trip to Monaco.
Federer is the one big name conspicuous by his absence in Monte Carlo but the best of the rest will be throwing their hats into the ring.
As is his way, Nadal will compete at the other two clay-court 1000 Masters events in Rome and Madrid before resuming his love affair with Roland Garros in a shade over six weeks.
Conquering all will not be Nadal's number one priority but getting his hands back on the Coupe des Mousquetaires will be and whether he does or not will say a great deal about whether the Spaniard's recent decline is terminal.
The eyes of the watching world will therefore be on Nadal in Monte Carlo, desperate to see if clay can catalyse him back to his best.
It is not yet the last throw of the dice for Nadal in Monte Carlo but the Spaniard will arrive in Monaco as the one with the most to lose.
Copyright (c) 2010 morethanthegames.com
Clijsters' comeback adds another triumph
"I don't ever feel like it's not my day. I don't think that way." Venus Williams was defiant, but the score on this occasion did not lie.
Kim Clijsters, continuing her remarkable comeback, won the Sony Ericsson Open 6-2, 6-1 here Saturday in under an hour, leaving plenty of time for people to go off and bask in glorious Florida sunshine.
Williams did not seem to be at her best even before she had additional tape attached to an already heavily strapped left knee at the first changeover. And then there was the heavy strapping on the right thigh. All in all, despite the resplendent red dress, it left Venus looking a bit like a mummy.
But no, that can't be right. It's Kim who's the mummy. She was also the dominant player on court from first ball to last. There were no walk-abouts from the Belgian today. She was concentrating furiously so as to not let her focus slip as it had done with near fatal consequences against Justine Henin in the semifinal.
"That's something I was really trying to focus on, not to give her easy mistakes - like in Justine's match when I let her back in," Clijsters said. "In the beginning I have to say I was a little bit worried with the serves that she was hitting at me. The pace was very high. If she had been serving like that the whole match, it would have been tough to break her."
But it wasn't because as Venus admitted, "I did start missing more first serves in the second set, which didn't help my cause."
Venus is never going to offer excuses and brushed off numerous questions about her injuries with lines like, "I just needed more support in this leg today." And the other one? No, forget it. She's not going to admit to hurting. But she will be harsh on herself when analyzing a match.
"Maybe I should have gone for a little less," she said. "Even when I was down I was still going for my shots. Maybe that wasn't the exact right mentality today. She played really consistently. Maybe she didn't play a lot of winners but she did try to force an error. So it was smart."
Players on the women's circuit are allowed to call for a nominated coach to come down and talk to them once during a set. Big Daddy Richard was sitting up there in the stands and he's been Venus' coach since she was born. She could even have nominated sister Serena. Did she contemplate getting help. "No," she said, returning to defiant mode. "It has to come from within me. Just has to come from within."
This, of course, was a triumph for Clijsters, who has a quite remarkable return to the tour. Since July she has won two of the biggest tournaments in the world, the U.S. Open and now Key Biscayne, which is generally regarded as the most prestigious of the top tier events after the Slams. And she seems to be coping very well with the demands of having a child on tour with her.
"The balance is extremely important," she said. "Obviously you don't have everything under your control. I mean, with rain delays and everything it's not always easy. But I feel the balance is good. Obviously there's days when, if Jada is a little sick or something, I want to stay with her. But I also know I need to go to practice because I need to work on things. So those are situations that sometimes can be a little frustrating. But she's a little older now and she knows that when I'm leaving that I'm going out to play tennis. We try and involve her in as many things as possible."
But does she want her daughter to become a tennis player? "I'm not the type of mother who is going to say, 'Let's go practice your forehand today.' That's not me. If she wants to do it and if she thinks it's fun, great."
Mom got a big kiss from Jada after winning the title. There will be many more along the way if Kim goes on playing like this.
Note: By the time Venus made a final forehand error, the match had lasted just 58 minutes. For history buffs who enjoy this kind of stuff, that was exactly the time it took Rod Laver to beat Tony Roche in the final of the first Open Wimbledon in 1968. They didn't sit down at changeovers, of course, but nonetheless, it was best of five sets. They just played faster in those days.
(c) 2010 Microsoft
Federer's greatness starts with his normal story
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- The trouble with watching greatness over and over is, through the years, you can forget what made it great. Look again: Two decades ago, a small boy would bike home after tennis tournaments and his parents would ask, "How'd you do?"
"I won," he'd say.
Or he lost. And they'd have dinner. And talk about the day. Or do whatever normal, middle-class people do, which is the point here, because we rarely see normal people achieve greatness in individual sports.
Tiger Woods swung golf clubs on television at age 3. That's not normal. Andre Agassi and Jennifer Capriati were shoved into tennis by overbearing fathers.
Venus and Serena Williams not only had a strong-willed father to kick-start them but poverty to fuel their rise. On you can go with traumatic back stories to greatness in sports. And on.
All of which leads to this: Roger Federer's normal story is decidedly abnormal among the sports giants. He wasn't a child prodigy, enjoyed that middle-class upbringing and his parents sat back and let him decide tennis mattered to him.
Pete Sampras, whose records Federer is bringing down, still grew up in the imbalanced world of junior tennis. Federer rode that bike to tournaments in Switzerland and reported the news home afterward.
Even as the most accomplished player in tennis history, as the world's No. 1 player for 275 weeks, his upbringing explains why Federer has escaped most of the accepted trappings of sports fame.
No posse. No celebrities. No yacht named, "Privacy." No newcomers inside the traveling circle of his wife and trainer, unless you count the twin daughters added in the past year.
Here's a story: If you go to Federer's website, there's an address in Bottmingen, Switzerland, for fans to send mail, letters or pictures. The address isn't some holding station or agent's office.
It's his parent's home.
There was Federer in his first match at the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday night, making quick if experimental work of Nicolas Lapentti, 6-3, 6-3. He worked on a technique that sent a few balls skyward.
"I tried a few different things on the return (of service) as well," he said. "I served well and that's what won the match."
This tournament begins talk about Federer and Rafael Nadal resuming a rivalry interrupted by Nadal's injury last year. It's also an anniversary of sorts for Federer.
A year ago here, he was pronounced on his way out. He broke a racquet in anger while losing the finals here after crying in losing in Australia to the point winner Nadal consoled him. His hold was loosening. Or so it seemed.
"Everybody was writing funny things," Federer said.
Since leaving Key Biscayne last year, Federer got married, had the babies, won the French Open and Wimbledon to break Sampras' 14 Grand Slam titles.
He regained the No. 1 ranking and now has spent 275 weeks in his career at the top. Sampras has the record of 286 weeks as No. 1.
"It's a feeling I know," Federer said of his top ranking, "so it's kind of nice. To come back here and have some Grand Slams under my pocket (since a year ago) and being married had having two kids, I think I've done extremely well."
He's 28, so there's time left. His normal back story is rare, but not unique. Jack Nicklaus grew up a middle-class kid in a Midwestern state and rose to great fame.
Chris Evert grew up in middle-class Fort Lauderdale with her father as coach, though not an overbearing one.
But Federer never had the advantages of disadvantages that motivate some of the greatest athletes. Not poverty. Not pushy parents. Not youthful dominance.
The greatness of Federer is he overcame his normal upbringing. Look around. Not many of the greatest ever say that.
(c) 2010, Sun Sentinel
Djokovic delighted to meet 'idol' Sampras
INDIAN WELLS, California -- Novak Djokovic didn't realize just how star-struck he could be.
But when tennis' current world number two met boyhood idol Pete Sampras for the first time while tuning up for the Indian Wells Masters 1000 that old hero-worship kicked in.
"I surprised myself," Djokovic said Monday, after winning his third-round match at the Indian Wells Masters 1000. "I thought, it's not going to be a big deal. I'm on the tour for many years. I'm grown up. But it was incredible."
Djokovic, 22, was introduced to Sampras after the US great had hit with Roger Federer on a court in La Quinta, a desert community just up the highway from Indian Wells.
For Djokovic, the brief conversation "fulfilled somehow my childhood dreams.
"He's the one that gave me a lot of motivation to become a professional player," Djokovic said of Sampras, winner of 14 Grand Slam titles. "I've seen him winning Wimbledon when I was four, five years old."
Serbia's Djokovic, whose only Grand Slam title to date came at the 2008 Australian Open, said he admired Sampras' commitment and his mental approach to the game - and his serve.
"His serve was not that fast, but it was so precise," Djokovic said, "and he gave himself a lot of opportunities for easy next shot."
In their brief conversation, Djokovic said, Sampras told him "You win with your mind and your heart - and that's something that's very true."
"I wish one day I can hit with him," Djokovic added. "He promised me he's going to hit with me, so I'll keep him for his word."
Copyright (c) 2010 AFP
Maria Sharapova Aims To Regain Wimbledon Crown
Former World Number 1Maria Sharapova will be looking to win another Grand Slam this year, and the Russian would dearly love to regain her Wimbledon crown. Sharapova took the tennis world by storm as a 17 year old when she beat Serena Williams in the 2004 final at Wimbledon to win the 1st Grand Slam title of her career. The Russian then went for over two years without winning a major title, before she managed to break through and win at Wimbledon. Sharapova lost in the Australian Open final in 2007 to Serena Williams, however the Russian came back the following year and won the title with a convincing victory over Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the final. Since then however injuries have held Sharapova back she was beaten 1st round in the Australian Open this year by her compatriot Maria Kirilenko, she would love to win another major title this year.
Copyright (c) 2010 Bleacher Report, Inc
Bets made on Federer could pay off beyond the graveBets placed in the years leading to his death could pay off from beyond the grave in Britain if Roger Federer continues his Grand Slam win streak.
British media report that the Oxfam charity is set to receive a windfall of up to $500,000 due to wagers on tennis made before his death in 2009.
The late punter, Nick Newlife, has several outstanding bets which could lead to big paydays, including a potential $1.5 million should Federer lift a seventh Wimbledon title this summer. The original $400 bet had been made for the Swiss to win Wimbledon at least seven times before 2020 at 66/1 odds.
Newlife also had a longer-odds flutter on Andy Roddick, wagering that the American could lift at least ten Grand Slam singles titles before 2020 at 100/1 - a potential payout $115,000.
Should all of the late punter's bets pay out, Oxfam would be ahead by $508,000.
"Roger Federer is already 6/4 hot favourite to win this summer's Wimbledon and I fully expect to be handing over a six figure cheque to Oxfam when he does so," said spokesman for the William Hill house.
(c) 2001-2010, Moneytainment Media Ltd
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