The tennis continues this week with three ATP tournaments and two WTA tournaments, but it remains the case that most of the big guns will still be in preparation for the Olympic Games which will begin in two weeks time.
As I did last week, I won't break down the individual tournaments, but instead will focus on the selections and why they have been made.
The tournament in Atlanta is the only one that I will focus on this week and I am going to be backing a player from the top half of the draw that should be very comfortable on the hard courts of North America and also does not have the concern of taking part in the Olympic Games on his mind.
Kevin Anderson married his girlfriend from the United States and that meant applying for a Green Card to stay in the country. That also meant he was unable to represent South Africa in the Davis Cup and so misses the chance to play in the Olympic Games and that means his focus should already be locked on in performing on the hard courts in preparation for the US Open.
The big serving player has already won a tournament on the hard courts this season when he won at Delray Beach, and his opposition here takes a similar route if he is to win this one. Anderson beat Xavier Malisse, Andy Roddick and John Isner to get through to the Final and the draw here means he is to face a tough veteran like Michael Russell before taking on the same two Americans as Delray Beach in the same order.
Anderson is more than capable of beating both Roddick and Isner again in this tournament and I think there is every chance he gets to the Final at the least and he looks worth chancing at 11.00. He has won the last two matches against Roddick and also won his last two matches against Isner so I am a little surprised that he is considered the least likely of those three players to get through and try and win this event.
I did think about some of the other tournaments and prospective winners, but I found there were a number of question marks surrounding motivation, while others had some really tough draws to negotiate and were a lot shorter in the market than I am interested in taking.
For anyone that may have been interested, I did consider taking Sara Errani to win the tournament in Bastad and Stanislas Wawrinka to win his home tournament in Gstaad, but my concerns ended up outweighing the positives with both players.
Errani won a tournament in Palermo last week and it can be tough to win back to back events on the Main Tour in either the ATP or the WTA, while she also has a couple of opponents that may cause problems for someone ranked at 3.25 to win in Bastad.
Wawrinka also has a tough draw and looks a little short in the market considering he has yet to win in Gstaad in the past and only reached one Final there in eight years.
MY PICK: Kevin Anderson @ 11.00 Boyle Sports (1 Unit E/W)
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