Tennis Picks 2017 (January 9th)

The week before the Grand Slam events sees most of the big name players having a rest, although this week we do have a very strong WTA tournament in Sydney this week.

It was a tough start to the season but over eleven months it is going to be up and down at times and the key is to have bigger winning weeks than those disappointing ones and get 2017 back to winning ways after the disappointment of the way the last two seasons have gone. I do feel confident despite the week to open the season because I think I was reading the matches in the right way and just needed a little more luck at critical times.

This week the picks will be come out day by day, but I might not have picks from every day of the tournaments as I get ready for the Australian Open when better opportunities are likely to be more appealing.


Jiri Vesely - 3.5 games v Horacio Zeballos: Both Jiri Vesely and Horacio Zeballos will have taken a flight out of Doha to Auckland for this tournament after losing to top ten players in Qatar last week. This is the only pick I am going to make from the opening day of the tournaments to be played this week despite a host of matches scheduled for Monday as the events ensure they are completed by Saturday.

That will give players the chance to head to Melbourne and get set to take part in the Australian Open even if the majority of those playing this week on the ATP Tour.

There is an expectation of Jiri Vesely and hopes that he can kick on up the World Rankings in 2017. He has the tools to be really effective on the Tour, but has to get a little more out of the serve and I think he can put some pressure on Zeballos in this one if he can serve well and force the Argentinian to match him in that department.

Zeballos might have started a new trend last week when asking Novak Djokovic for a 'selfie' after losing his match against him, but he will believe this is a much more winnable match. He has had some solid results on the hard courts over the last twelve months and Vesely will be challenged by him, but I do think the big Czech player is going to have the edge behind serve and he can just do enough to see him off in two sets.

There isn't much between these two in the World Rankings and Vesely did not play that well on the hard courts last season. However he had some difficult draws and I think Vesely can win this First Round match in Auckland as I feel Zeballos is going to be more likely to throw out a couple of really poor games behind serve which contributes to a 63, 76 defeat.

MY PICKS: Jiri Vesely - 3.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Season 2017: - 8.02 Units (62 Units Staked, - 12.94% Yield)