Outright Tennis Picks July 4th-10th

The week after a Grand Slam can be disappointing, but it is particularly the case when the Davis Cup is scheduled at the end of the week.

That means almost all of the top ATP players are busy, while most of the big names will not return to action until the US Summer Swing kicks off at the end of the month.

However, we do have a tournament taking place this week, the last grass court event on the main tour this season, as some players decide to play at in Newport.

I don't think I will be making too many picks on the individual days, but I did think I would look at the draw and see if there was an outright price that could interest me.


John Isner is the Number 1 seed after he was given a Wild Card to enter the tournament. He took the place of the reigning Champion, Mardy Fish, who is in action in the Davis Cup tie against Spain and Isner will look to reverse some history.

In the 35 years of this event, the Number 1 seed has NEVER won the tournament- therefore prices of 4.00 look a little short to me.

Previous winners have not exactly been a 'whose who' list of tennis players and so looking beyond the Number 1 seed could pay dividends.


I am also going to rule out the Number 2 seed, Grigor Dimitrov, as it may be hard to repeat his efforts from Wimbledon when he pushed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 4 tough sets. He is in a tough section of the draw with Ivo Karlovic being a possible 2nd Round opponent.


While I accept this is a tough section, I believe the man to follow for the tournament could come out of this part of the draw... Dudi Sela.

The Israeli player has not really hit the heights that some thought he might when he beat Fernando Gonzalez in a 5 set Davis Cup match, and he has only reached 1 Final in his career and is yet to pick up a title.

However, Sela won a pre-Wimbledon Challenger tournament on the grass courts of Nottingham, beating the likes of Jeremy Chardy and Bernard Tomic along the way.

He had won 16 matches in a row, mainly on the Challenger Tour, before losing to Gilles Simon in the 2nd Round at Wimbledon in 3 tight sets.

Sela begins with a Qualifier before facing the winner of Michael Berrer-Tommy Haas. Usually I would favour Haas to beat Sela, but he has recently returned to the Tour following an injury and Sela may upset the odds in that one.

A potential Quarter Final with Dimitrov would be tough, but Sela has a win over the talented Bulgarian from last season.

If Sela can reach the Semi Final stage, his recent run of wins, even though they were on the Challenger Tour, may give him the mental edge to move on and win the tournament.


OUTRIGHT PICK: Dudi Sela @ 21.0 William Hill (0.5 Units E/W) E/W is top 2 places, 1/2 odds