Tennis Betting Advice - October 2024
Jakub's climbing the ladder...
Friday 25th October 2024
We focused our Ones to Watch efforts on the men’s indoor event in Vienna this week (view my advice from the start of the tournament here)...
Our 33/1 pick Jakub Mensik is through to the quarter finals this evening…
Young Jakub is playing great, and serving brilliantly…
This kid really is one to watch:
The 19-year-old Czech is one of just two teenagers currently residing in the men’s world top 100. The other being China’s Juncheng Shang (ranked no.47, age 19 - turns 20 in February).
Mensik is ranked no.51, and set to climb to a new career high when the updated standings are released next week. He turns 20 years of age next September, so we still get to call him a teenager for a good while yet.
So far here in Vienna this week, Jakub has won four out of four matches, without dropping a set. Coming through two rounds of qualifying, and then posting two more impressive, straight-sets wins in the main draw:
The next test is a tough one today, with Mensik taking on world no.10 and Vienna 2nd seed, Alex De Minaur. The 25-year-old Australian is Ones to Watch alumni himself, having featured in my pre-season reports a good few years back, when he was a speedy new kid on the block.
De Minaur went off at single figures in the Outright Winner market this week, with Bet365 going 17/2 (9.5).
In comparison, we’re on Mensik at nice chunky odds, with a standout 33/1 available ahead of the 1st round on Monday. This morning’s revised Vienna prices had Mensik down to 10/1 in general.
If this Oddschecker piechart is anything to go by, I’d say plenty of you are on Mensik in Vienna this week:
What’s more, we took the standard and preferred Each Way terms of 1/2 odds for 1-2 places. Now that we’re in the quarter finals, bookies are only going 1/3 odds Each Way - or Win Only.
So, we have price on our side. And as ever, the next step to look forward to is: can our youngster spring the upset?
The bookmakers have this down as a close match this evening. Mensik is priced as the slight match underdog, at 11/10 (2.1). With De Minaur at 8/11 (1.73).
Back to my earlier comment about Jakub’s serving…
Mensik thumped down 23 aces in the last round - a new ATP Tour best for him. He’s in the top 10 on the last-52-weeks leaderboard on the official ATP stats for Average Aces per Match…
Standing tall at 6’4” and with a great physical presence on court, this young Czech player can make his serve a keystone part of his game, as he continues to climb the tennis ladder…
We’re off to France next week for the Rolex Paris Masters. Read more about why I’m excited about that one here. Play starts on Monday…
Enjoy the tennis…
P.S
Want to get in touch? Email me at: oliver.upstone@oxonpress.co.uk
Best wishes,
Oliver Upstone