Tennis Betting Advice - May 2020

Tennis Point Exhibition - and Murray wins on his sofa...

Friday 1st May 2020

In your Ones to Watch email today:

  • Murray wins on his sofa…
  • A decent week following Madrid online…
  • Play underway in Germany... 

Murray wins on his sofa...

The first ever Madrid Open ‘Virtual Pro’ tournament came to an end on Thursday evening, but not without a few hiccups…

Andy Murray was eventually crowned champion of the inaugural online tournament, defeating David Goffin 7-6 in the final.

Murray had initially been ‘knocked out’ in the semi finals by Diego Schwartzman, in a match that was plagued by technical difficulties…

The problem seemed to be caused by a bad internet connection for Schwartzman, who was playing at home in Argentina, against Murray who was in Scotland.

The internet is an amazing thing, but on this occasion the distance between South America and Europe proved too much…

Descending into farce...

After two attempts to re-start the match, things were descending into farce, with both players laughing in frustration as ‘ghost’ points went the way of their opponent, with both men reporting seeing the ball “bounce twice,” while play still continued.

This is b**lsh*t,” muttered Andy, much to the amusement of his fellow professional on the other end of the line.

Hilariously, Andy in particular didn’t seem bothered one bit by the fact that the Madrid Open Virtual Pro organisers might want a say in whether or not one player hits ‘cancel’ and starts the match again without consulting the money-people behind the scenes.

That led to a period of confusion, with Schwartzman fielding phone calls from the Madrid organisers. Online scoreboards fluttered and froze, unsure whether to report the original (interrupted) score, or the final first-to-10 tiebreak that the two guys decided to play out among themselves.

There was also some colourful language from online viewers in the comments section. And the technical glitches had several bettors sweating on the outcome of their wagers. “My bet better not count if [Andy] loses,” typed one disgruntled viewer.

I’ve blanked out the swearing. As you can see, Andy was seeing the funny side of the online issues:

Andy Murray - Virtual Madrid Open

Sense prevails...

In the end, after Schwartzman ‘won’ the tiebreaker, 10-6, he graciously said over the microphone to Andy that he didn’t deserve to win or go on to the final. And that with his internet connection so poor, a final against another European opponent would also go down the pan. Fair play to Diego.

That conversation was swiftly cut short on the tournament’s official Facebook page, with the live feed taken off air. Eventually, the organisers saw sense and voided the match, with Murray going through to the final on a Walkover, due to Schwartman’s technical restraints.

Andy donated half his winnings to the NHS, and the other half to a fund to help tennis players that are struggling financially.

A decent first attempt...

In the other men’s semi final, Stefanos Tsitsipas had a match point but was edged out in a tiebreak, 7-6, by David Goffin.

I know a few of you were on Tsitsipas at 10/1 this week. He was a whisker away from reaching the final.

All in all it was an entertaining first foray into the world of Esports tennis for us, and not without success...

It was good to hear that some of you turned a profit on the daily matches. Namely, Belinda Bencic beating Carla Suarez Navarro on Monday, and Murray winning both his matches on Tuesday.

  • How was the Esports tennis for you? Email me at: tom.wilson@oxonpress.co.uk

We’ll keep an eye out for future online events like that one, especially if the competitors are all ‘actual’ players, as they were here.

The final results (and winning odds) for the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro were:

Men’s:
Winner: Andy Murray (11/1)
Runner-up: David Goffin (14/1)

Women’s:
Winner: Kiki Bertens (9/1)
Runner-up: Fiona Ferro (12/1)

Play underway in Germany...

Back on court for some real-life tennis...

As outlined in yesterday’s email, I’m monitoring the new Tennis Point Exhibition Series, which started this morning in Germany.

The bookies went up last night with a range of Match Winner and match betting markets. The theme was overwhelmingly one of: stick with the favourites on paper…

Without fail, all eight of Friday’s day one matches were priced up with the higher-ranked/ better known player as the short favourite, with odds of 1/3 (1.33) and the like.

So far, the oddsmakers were right to be so cautious. As I write, each of the opening three matches have all been won in straight sets by the pre-match favourite.

You can watch live streaming coverage of the Tennis Point Exhibition Series matches on bookmaker websites including Bet365 and Skybet.

I’ll continue to follow this German event over the weekend. But it could be that this one goes down as an exercise in seeing how tennis works out back on court in Europe, under coronavirus restrictions, rather than as a decent betting heat for us.

There are more exhibition tournaments in the pipeline in May though, and you and I will be well-placed to get involved when the players & prices suit.

That’s all from me for today. Take care.

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Tom Wilson

Ones to Watch