Tennis Outright Picks August 12-19 (Cincinnati)

Last week was probably the worst week I have experience in two years of putting up picks for the tennis on this site as I couldn't catch a cold let alone a break and it has made a heavy dent in the profit/loss column for the 2012 season.

The tennis world moves on quickly so I'll be hoping for a lot more consistency with the picks this week and hope to turnaround the fortunes ahead of the final Grand Slam of the season at the US Open which will be beginning on August 27th.

Below I will update the porous last week and I will also look at the draws for the Cincinnati Masters that will begin today and go on until next Sunday. We do have the top players all back in action this week as it is the last major preparation for them before heading to Flushing Meadows and hopefully the weather won't ruin the week as it has in Canada with double-duty being on the menu for many of the players.

Men's Tournament

The Men's tournament in Cincinnati will still be missing Rafael Nadal this week and that means the first thing we should look for is which of the remaining top four players have been paired with one another.

This week, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic have been set to meet in the Semi Final, something that should leave the way clear for Roger Federer to make it through to the Final at the least.

Federer missed Toronto last week as he believes he needed a little bit of rest, both physically and emotionally, having invested so much in winning Wimbledon and earning the Silver Medal from the London Olympics.

The World Number 1 has been given a kind opening match in the draw, facing the winner of the Jarkko Nieminen and Alex Bogomolov match, and he can't complain too much about any of the competitors in his half of the draw as he avoids Murray, Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro until the Final at the earliest.

Federer may have been beaten in the Quarter Final last season, but he is a four time winner here in Cincinnati, including in 2009 and 2010, and I don't see him being beaten before the Final with the way he has been playing.

There are a few more question marks about who he would meet in the Final as Novak Djokovic is in the Final in Toronto and may be a little tired having gone deep in the Olympics too, while Andy Murray has a slight issue with his knees and Juan Martin Del Potro may just be the man having had an additional week to rest following his early exit in Toronto.

However, the way Murray has been playing over the last six weeks means I wouldn't favour Del Potro against him so I am just going to stick with Roger Federer to win the title here for the fifth time.

Women's Tournament

There are a couple of really big names missing from this event this week as both Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova have decided to give their bodies a little more rest ahead of the US Open.

The first player that anyone should be looking at anyway is Serena Williams as she is playing the best tennis on the WTA Tour and has won three tournaments in a row (Wimbledon, Stanford and the London Olympic Gold Medal) since her surprise exit in the First Round at the French Open.

With the way Serena is serving, she is the clear favourite to win the US Open as far as I am concerned and this tournament is no different. She will have to beat the likes of Angelique Kerber and Petra Kvitova if she is to reach the Final, but her form has been good enough to think she will do so and she has to be the player to back to win any tournament right now.

The other half of the draw is a little more difficult to break down, but Na Li was showing signs of an improvement in her form by reaching the Final in Montreal last week and she may take advantage of being in the weaker half now that the likes of Azarenka and Sharapova are not in the draw.

Her potential Quarter Final against Agnieska Radwanska may just decide which of the two players reaches the Final this week, but Li has won the two previous meetings between them on a hard court, including a straight sets win last week for the loss of just three games.

However, Serena is hard to ignore and there are too many question marks around the other half of the draw and that makes it impossible to really pick a player from that section.

MY PICKS: Roger Federer @ 3.50 Stan James (3 Units)

Tennis Recap August 6-12 (Montreal and Toronto)

I won't mince my words here... Absolutely awful week as the numbers will show below:

Weekly Final: 4-10, - 12.64 Units (26 Units Staked)

Season 2012: + 46.21 Units (731 Units Staked, 6.32% Yield)

Season 2011: + 82.02 Units