Tennis Betting Advice - May 2020
Two events for us this weekend...
Thursday 7th May 2020
In your Ones to Watch email today:
Tennis Point Exhibition Series, Germany…
UTR Pro Match Series, Florida…
Picks and advice on Friday...
The tennis world has had to get creative during lockdown, and we’re seeing a growing number of new, small events launched.
With the official pro tours and Grand Slams on hold, tennis organisations, players & sponsors have got moving with ways to get some competitive tennis back on court, and back on our screens.
After last week’s successful first running of the Tennis Point Exhibition Series in Germany, with social distancing measures and health precautions in place, and each match streamed live online, the event continues for a second run at the same indoor clay court venue this week…
Price watch...
This time the Tennis Point Exhibition Series roster has been bumped up from eight players to 12, with seven of them also seen here last week.
That gives us a nice little bit of form to refer to. For example, last week Dustin Brown beat Jan Choinski, 2-0. This morning they met in the opening match of the new competition, and Brown won 2-0 again…
The scoreline was a bit closer in today’s encounter though. Last week, Brown prevailed 4-2, 4-1, from starting odds of 1/2 (1.50). This morning, Brown won 4-2, 4-3, at Match Winner odds of around 4/5 (1.80).
That drift in the odds can be attributed to the improved form that Choinski showed as last week’s event progressed - the German-born British representative won his last five matches at last week’s event, including a 4-3, 4-3 victory over eventual overall champion, Yannick Hanfmann.
The odds for this morning’s Brown-Choinski match suggest there will be more doing for us regarding match picks and bet opportunities this weekend.
Don’t expect any gifts from the bookies on Hanfmann, though. The top man here, Hanfmann has so far won a combined total of seven out of nine Tennis Point Exhibition Series matches since last Friday, 1st May. That includes a 4-3, 4-1 win over Daniel Altmaier earlier today, at odds of 2/5 (1.40).
I’ll be keeping an eye on how the five newcomers fare in Germany today, with an eye on Friday & the weekend’s match prices
The UTR Pro Match Series in Florida, USA also takes place this weekend.
The action starts on Friday, on a private tennis court in West Palm Beach. Matches will also be streamed live online. And this one also uses the ‘first to four games’ set-structure, as seen in the German competition above.
Again, various measures are in place to comply with coronavirus-related regulations and advice. Unlike the German event, this one will see players each given “their own set of marked balls for use during the match.”
The UTR website describes the event as follows:
UTR Pro Match Series events are prize money competitions, not exhibitions, and have been reviewed by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) to ensure strict compliance. Results from all Pro Match Series events will be included in a player’s Universal Tennis Rating (UTR), the most accurate international tennis rating system that provides real-time head-to-head rating comparisons based on performance.
Price watch…
The thumbs-up from the Tennis Integrity Unit gives the all-clear for bookmakers to offer markets on the matches. Courtside camera footage will be used to ensure all is above board.
As I write, only 888 Sport & Unibet have got their day one prices up for Florida. Play doesn’t start until 5pm Friday (UK time) though, so we expect a much better array of markets by tomorrow afternoon.
With that in mind, I’ll be emailing you on Friday with my first take on the prices, and any match picks for us
Local contenders...
With travel issues and the wider international crisis to consider, it’s not surprising that the initial four-man field for the UTR Pro Match Series has been altered since I listed the competitors in Monday’s email...
The revised line-up still contains Florida residents Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul. Along with Polish No.1 Hubert Hurkacz and Serbian No.3 Miomir Kecmanovic.
Those four guys are all inside the Top 60 of the ATP World Rankings, so we have a decent standard here. They will play in a round-robin group stage, followed by a title match on Sunday.
Paul has been staying with Opelka in Delray Beach during the lockdown. The American 22-year-olds played together for the USA in Davis Cup in early March, before the tennis came to a sudden halt. They’ve joked about putting weight on while cooped up, but have also been practising and working out, and Opelka says he’s back to his ‘training weight’ now.
Hurkacz and Kecmanovic have been training at academies in Florida.
Both Opelka and Hurkacz featured on our Ones to Watch in 2020 list at the start of the year, so I’m looking forward to this event and to see how they get on.
I’ll be back in touch on Friday with a Bank Holiday email for you, taking a look at the Match Winner markets & prices for the events in Germany and Florida.
See you tomorrow…
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson