Tennis Picks 2013 (May 24th)

The big four in the Men's game has finally been completed... That's right, Roger Federer has joined Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal on Twitter and it is going to be interesting to see how much interaction he has on the site.

I am surprised it took him so long considering Tiger Woods was a long-term friend and would surely have advocated joining the site to him. There have been parody accounts, but now the real man is on Twitter, I am interested to see which of the big four end up having the most 'followers' which is a good indication of their popularity.

We will also see the draw for the French Open being made on Friday morning and I will likely have my preview and Sunday picks up on the blog before the Champions League Football Final takes place on Saturday evening.

The picks this week haven't had a lot of success, but fortunately Juan Monaco is still in the tournament in Dusseldorf as my sole outright pick this week. Out of the four players left in that tournament, it is no surprise that Monaco is the favourite to go on and win the event, although he has to get through a couple of awkward matches to do so.

Juan Monaco - 4.5 games v Guido Pella: I may be taking a risk by backing Juan Monaco as a pick considering I did pick him as the outright pick from Dusseldorf, but I do like his match up against his compatriot and I do fancy Monaco will win with room to spare.

Monaco is actually a strong defender on the clay courts and I can see him exposing errors in the Guido Pella game as the younger Argentine has to hit closer and closer to the lines. I also think Monaco is the best clay court player that Pella would have played this week and I do think he will be able to force more errors and really hurt the backhand side of the left hander.

There are definitely signs of improvement in the Pella game, but beating Monaco on a clay court is not something I would expect of him right now. I believe the older, more experienced player will be able to come through a tough first set before moving away from Pella.

Monaco to win this one 64, 63 is what I believe we will see.

Romina Oprandi - 2.5 games v Shuai Peng: Romina Oprandi has shown some decent form on the clay courts in the last month and I think she is going to be too strong for Shuai Peng in this Semi Final match to be played in Brussels.

The players met recently at the Portugal Open that resulted in a comfortable win for Oprandi and there are likely to be a few breaks of serve in this one. However, the Swiss player is definitely finding effective returns of serve in her recent matches and I expect that to help here find a break more in each set of this match.

My only concern is that the French Open draw is coming out early in the day and it may have the players perhaps turning their attention to Paris already, but I think Oprandi comes through 75, 64.

MY PICKS: Juan Monaco - 4.5 Games @ 1.80 Pinnacle (2 Units)

Romina Oprandi - 2.5 Games @ 1.95 Pinnacle (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 1-5, - 8.30 Units (12 Units Staked, - 69.17% Yield)