Tennis Outright Picks July 9-15

The Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon may be over, but that doesn't mean we are in for a quiet week on the ATP Tour as we usually experience due to the Olympic tournament being placed on the calender this year.

The Olympic Games actually means there are four ATP tournaments this week and a further two WTA events- usually this would be the week leading up to the Davis Cup ties and would only have the one event at Newport, but alas we go on.

It is no surprise that the top Men and Women players have decided to take the time off following Wimbledon, but there are still some top names like Serena Williams, David Ferrer and Janko Tipsarevic scheduled to take part in tournaments, although that is always subject to change.

With the number of tournaments taking place, I am not going to break down the tournaments as I do usually, but instead will focus on the picks I am making and why I am taking those players. I will also be making daily picks in what is a quiet sports week, but only if I find matches I like and that may not be the case every day.


The first event I will be looking at is the one in Stuttgart where Janko Tipsarevic is the top seed. However, I like the chances of Juan Monaco, the second seed, to go all the way and win his third title of the season on the clay courts.

Monaco has actually had a bounce-back season after a pretty disappointing 2011 and he has won 16 of his 21 matches on the clay courts this season, winning titles in Vina del Mar and Houston, while also reaching the Fourth Round at the French Open.

The Argentine had a decent Wimbledon where he reached the Third Round, a vast improvement in recent efforts on the grass, but he is very comfortable on the clay courts and I expect he will be fully focused knowing that he is unlikely to be in medal contention at the Olympics with that tournament also being on the grass.

Monaco has been given a bye in the First Round here in Stuttgart and he won't be displeased with his draw with his biggest challenge likely to come from either Nikolay Davydenko or Pablo Andujar in the Semi Final. Davydenko could cause problems, but Monaco is playing well enough to think he could make hay at the 5.00 being offered on him for the tournament.


The second outright pick I will be making this week is having a small interest in Sam Querrey winning the penultimate grass court event of the 2012 season at Newport. Querrey reached the Semi Final at Queens this year on the grass and the Third Round at Wimbledon before losing in an epic match against Marin Cilic, and I think he will be very focused here as the big serving American is looking to improve his Ranking following an injury hit 12 months.

That run on the grass courts has seen him beat players like Denis Istomin and Milos Raonic, two potential opponents here in Newport this year, and he is also a former Finalist here so should be happy with the conditions.

He has also been placed in the weaker half of the draw, avoiding John Isner, Milos Raonic, Ryan Harrison, Nicolas Mahut or Gilles Muller up until the Final at the earliest. I do have a couple of concerns that Querrey could potentially play Lleyton Hewitt in his own half, but I think he showed enough already on the grass to think he can make the 15.00 offered on him a little large.

An each-way interest on Querrey looks a decent shout as far as I am concerned.


I have already picked a second seed to win one of the tournaments taking place this week, and I am taking Marin Cilic to win his home event at Umag as the second seed in this one.

Like Juan Monaco, Cilic has a bye in the First Round and I think he has a fairly kind draw as long as he is motivated to win the event, something I expect him to be as he is playing in front of his own supporters.

Cilic shouldn't have a problem until he comes up against Alexandr Dolgopolov in the Semi Final, but there is no guarantee the latter will reach that stage after struggling over the last six weeks of the season.

The Final could see the Croatian come up against a top Spanish opponent with the likes of Fernando Verdasco, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Marcel Granollers on the other side of the draw. However, Cilic should be full of confidence by then and may just be able to go one step further than when he finished as Runner Up here last season.

You can get Cilic at 3.50 and I think that is worth chancing in this tournament.


Outright Picks: Juan Monaco @ 5.00 BetFred (1 Unit)
Sam Querrey @ 15.00 Bet Victor (0.5 Units E/W)
Marin Cilic @ 3.50 BetFred (1 Unit)