Tennis Betting Advice - April 2020
Markets up for the Madrid Virtual Pro...
Monday 27th April 2020
In your Ones to Watch email today:
Online tennis today...
Later in the week we should have some on-court, exhibition tennis to look at. Today, as promised, we’re taking a first look at the inaugural Madrid Open Virtual Pro…
This online event features a total of 32 pro players, with a 16-draw men’s event and the same for the women.
The twist here is that, while the likes of Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Bianca Andreescu will all be taking part, this is a Esports event. The matches will be played online, using PlayStation controllers instead of tennis rackets.
The tournament uses the Tennis World Tour game. Andy Murray doesn’t ‘exist’ as a licensed player on that title. I reckon Andy will choose to play as his mate, Nick Kyrgios.
Every match will be streamed live online on the Madrid Open Virtual Pro Facebook page. You’ll probably be able to find other links to it on the web, too (such as YouTube).
The tournament format is a Round Robin group stage, followed by the top two players from each group going through to the quarter finals.
The event starts at 2pm today, and runs until Thursday...
Markets up for the Madrid Virtual Pro…
I was checking all weekend for bookies to price this new event up. As I write to you this morning, Ladbrokes & Coral and Sportingbet have got markets up.
In the day one Match Winner betting, it’s telling that most matches are priced up as pick ‘ems. That is, 50-50 odds with no clear favourite. In this instance, that likely suggests that the oddsmakers have little to no knowledge of what players are actually any good when it comes to battling it out on the Playstation…
I’m not going to claim to be an expert here. My theory, though, is that the younger generation of players will be the ones to watch. The likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Bianca Andreescu, for example, are very active and well-followed on social media, and very internet savvy.
That list of younger contenders also includes Alexander Zverev and Denis Shapovalov in the men’s Madrid Open Virtual Pro event, and Belinda Bencic in the women’s.
Following along the lines of using social media in lieu of an Esports formbook for the ‘real life’ pro players taking part, the vibes seem to be that Rafa Nadal doesn’t have much experience when it comes to video games. But, Belinda Bencic could prove to be a bit of a demon with a controller in her hand. Fellow competitor Donna Vekic said online that Bencic recently won 15 points in a row against her.
Here are the Outright Winner prices from Ladbrokes...
Men’s:
Women’s:
If you held a gun to my head and told me I had to pick a player to follow in this first-ever edition of the Madrid Open Virtual Pro, then I’d say Stefanos Tsitsipas in the men’s event, and Belinda Bencic in the women’s.
And if you’re at home and fancy following the Esports tennis matches today (I’ll be watching), the one match I’d say might be worth taking advantage of the evenly-matched odds would be Bencic to beat ‘home’ player, Carla Suarez Navarro. Bencic is 17/20 (1.85) to win that one, which is the opening match in the women’s tournament.
Ladbrokes & Coral and Sportingbet have the same prices across the board.
If nothing else, the Madrid Open Virtual Pro event should provide us with some tennis-themed entertainment online this week. I’ll be following the action and will keep you updated.
P.S
As we enter May at the end of the week, we’re hopeful to have some ‘proper’ tennis taking place, with an exhibition event in Germany on the cards, as well as a few others coming up.
Enjoy the (Esports) tennis...
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson