Tennis Betting Advice - March 2020

Don't be tempted...

Tuesday 24th March 2020

In your Ones to Watch email today:

  • Don’t be tempted…
  • Rankings research on the agenda...
  • Ray can help...

There are very big and very serious things going on right now. They’re all over the news.

I’ll be keeping you informed with my take on how this all affects the tennis world...

This match still went ahead...

We wake up to a new version of ‘daily life’ every day at the moment.

The newly-imposed ‘lockdown’ measures mean playing tennis is now very much off the cards.

It turns out, I got my match in on Friday, just in time. That’ll be the last one for a while.

Barely two hours after I got back from the sports centre, Boris’ latest announcement saw that venue and all others like it closed down.

And after Monday’s statement to the nation, I received an email saying my local tennis courts are now locked up and out of bounds for the next three weeks at least.

My friend David beat me, 6-2, 6-2. I hit one ace. And three double faults (I think). I got a blister in the second set, but I’m not making excuses.

While playing for that hour-and-a-half or so last Friday afternoon, I didn’t think once about the coronavirus crisis. Just the ball, the court and the score. Sport can take you away like that. Escapism. A welcome distraction.

Within the new restrictions, I’ll be making the most of being allowed one dose of daily exercise. I’m a keen walker. And maybe the odd jog, although I can’t say I’ve ever enjoyed running. Unlike on the tennis court, the time has always passed very slowly for me with the running shoes on.

Don’t be tempted...

Many bookies and tipsters are scrambling around for things to bet on right now. That’s not our approach…

At Ones to Watch, we focus on the Grand Slams, and the weekly ATP & WTA tournaments. That’s loads of tennis. We look at well over 100 events a year. It’s all on hold at the moment. But the tennis will return.

Just as you should never chase your losses, you should also never ‘go looking’ for a bet…

There is some ‘organised’ tennis going on right now. I resist the word ‘professional’ though, as the players in question are very far off the Top 100, 200 or even 500 in the world rankings. And the matches are very much in the unknown category…

Just because there are some tennis matches listed on the bookies’ sites this week, it doesn't mean you should bet on them.

Over the last couple of days, matches have appeared on the betting lists, under names such as ‘Russia Liga Pro’... ‘Russia Masters’... and the classic Friendly match red-flag for serious bettors, the ‘Exhibition.’

Plenty of bookies have been quick to add these to their offerings. With pre-match and/ or in-play markets seen at the likes of Bet365, William Hill, Paddy Power & Betfair Sportsbook, BetVictor, Betfred, Ladbrokes & Coral, Boylesports, Betway.

We don't know anything about these tournaments, where exactly they're being played, what the conditions are, or how seriously they are being taken by all involved.

I spent a good hour or so attempting to look up some of the players taking part in these matches. To say that any kind of recorded form is hard to come by would be an understatement.

The fact that I even needed to search at all is enough for me to say: stay away. I haven’t heard of these players or these events.

A couple of the players I searched for yesterday came up with ITF (International Tennis Federation) rankings outside the top one thousand. Others came up with absolutely nothing.

For example, today’s match between one Oleg Migachev and a player named Vladimir Tsirkin comes up a complete blank. No rankings history, no formbook.

Don’t be tempted to bet on these matches. Stay away.

Rankings research on the agenda...

We’ll stick to what we know. The top-level tennis will return. And when it does, we’ll be all set for hunting out big-price picks once again…

I’ll be using this time indoors to step up my Ones to Watch research and analysis. One line of enquiry I’m looking into is the ATP & WTA rankings of players that win tournaments and reach finals, across the different grades of event.

In the men’s game on the full ATP Tour, we have tournaments ranging from ATP 250 grade, to 500 and then Masters 1000.

On the women’s tour, the top-level grades go from International to Premier, Premier 5 and then Premier Mandatory.

At the top of the tree, of course, we then have the four Grand Slam tournaments. And different playing surfaces to consider, too.

I’m starting that research this week and I’ll keep you updated with my findings…

The outcome will help us ‘zoom in’ on the type of players we should be looking for on the weekly tours…

It may throw up a few surprises or nuggets of info for us to use in the future. And my feeling is that a fair few of these will come out with a history of big odds in the Outright Winner markets, too.

More on that soon. I’ll email you again at the end of the week.

Ray can help...

Whenever I visit my Publisher’s offices, I usually bump into a guy called Ray Collins, who is based in the same building...

Ray is a health writer. He’s told me an interesting thing or two about varicose veins over the years (I’ve got my Grandad’s legs…).

And right now, with a global health crisis underway, Ray could be a useful person to listen to.

Ray has been producing his free Good Life Letter newsletter for 15 years now. He’s even written a couple of health books, too. And over the last week or so, Ray has broken his silence on the coronavirus and given his take on the situation.

I for one found the article a fascinating read. You can read it by clicking on the link below. If you’ve never heard of a ‘salt inhaler’ before, then you may well learn something new for the day, too…

Click on the link below and you’ll also receive Ray’s follow-up emails for free. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Read Ray’s coronavirus article here

Take care.

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Tom Wilson

Ones to Watch