OTW Extra Email Archive - June 2017
Blasts from the past - and glimpses of the future...
Tuesday 13th June 2017
In your Ones to Watch email today:
Blasts from the past – and glimpses of the future...
The first two Grand Slams of the year have served up some big-priced winners – and an intriguing mixture of players old & new...
On Sunday, 100/1 shot Jelena Ostapenko – just turned 20 years of age, and one of the youngsters on our Ones to Watch in 2017 report – won the Women’s French Open.
That was Ostapenko’s first ever title on the Senior tour. A genuine breakthrough moment. And a feather in the cap for our 2017 list.
The new Latvian star beat 25-year-old Simona Halep in the final. With Serena Williams out for the rest of the year, Halep had arrived in Paris as the 4/1 tournament favourite. Doubts about the Romanian’s mental abilities at the top of the game remain – Halep is now played two lost two in Grand Slam finals, both at Roland Garros on her best surface (clay).
January’s Australian Open had seen another 100/1 Women’s finalist; unlike new kid on the block Ostapenko, veteran Venus Williams (age 36) collected the runner-up trophy in Melbourne.
And after household-name finals made up of Serena v Venus and Federer v Nadal in Australia, we saw two established names going at each other at the business end of the French Open, too...
Rafael Nadal (age 31) beat Stan Wawrinka (age 32) in the Men’s final – Nadal lifting the French Open title for an unprecedented 10th time. The resurgent Spaniard has now reached both Grand Slam finals so far in 2017, having failed to get further than the quarter finals in his previous eight Grand Slam attempts (since winning the French Open 2014).
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are yet to deliver at a Grand Slam this season, neither doing better than a quarter final so far – offering hope to plenty of players on the Men’s tour.
And with No.1 Serena Williams currently out of the game, Women’s tournaments continue to look wide open...
The stage is set for a fascinating summer, and one that is sure to throw up more big prices and surprises...
So far in 2017 the Grand Slam prices have been:
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Men's Winner: R.Federer (22/1)
Men's Runner-up: R.Nadal (16/1)
Women's Winner: S.Williams (3/1)
Women's Runner-up: V.Williams (100/1)
FRENCH OPEN
Men's Winner: R.Nadal (5/6)
Men's Runner-up: S.Wawrinka (14/1)
Women's Winner: J.Ostapenko (100/1)
Women's Runner-up: S.Halep (4/1)
The grass court season is here...
With WIMBLEDON starting in the first week of July, then the US OPEN at the end of August – we have two more Grand Slam events to look forward to this summer.
Along with a stack of weekly ATP and WTA tournaments, including no fewer than 11 grass courts events this month in the build-up to Wimbledon. Check out the calendar here.
The grass season is of particular interest to me. It’s a short period of the season – from now until mid-July – but also a significant one, with the summer the peak period of the tennis year.
It’s a specialist surface. Some players genuinely struggle with grass under their feet. Some excel more than at any other time of the year.
I’ll be looking to home in on grass-court ‘Ones to Watch’ players in your free weekly emails between now and the big one at SW19.
This time last year, the month before Wimbledon produced grass court tournament winners at odds of 20/1, 33/1 and 66/1, with runners-up at 33/1 (x 3) and 40/1.
Some eye-catching prices there...
At the time of writing, this week’s Outright Winner markets are down while play is underway in Stuttgart, s-Hertogenbosch and Nottingham. But I’ll be studying the draws and markets and will email you as and when I see any players & prices that grab my attention.
Coming soon – your free Wimbledon report...
Plus, coming very soon – I’ll send you my Wimbledon 2017 Ones to Watch report.
Naming a handful or so players who could well prove to be the next 100/1 Grand Slam winner. And as Ostapenko showed last week, these things really do happen...
P.S
And remember, we’ve also already flagged up Coco Vandeweghe as One to Watch for Wimbledon at odds of 20/1+. You can read about Coco from back in our 25th January email here.
We’re approaching the best time of year for tennis. I’ll be back soon.
Best wishes,
