Tennis Picks 2018 (February 18th)

I said in the Saturday thread for the Tennis Picks that this has been a good week already and that was underlined with two more winners yesterday.

The other Pick ended with a retirement after David Goffin suffered a really unfortunate injury in his Semi Final against Grigor Dimitrov. An attempted volley ricocheted off the racquet and into Goffin's eye and it was not surprise that the Belgian player decided to pull out at that moment.

However both Petra Kvitova and Dominic Thiem returned as winners and it has made a strong week possible, one that I needed just to restore some belief in the numbers. To be fair the numbers have been great indicators, but I just hadn't had a lot of luck earlier in the 2018 season and at the end of the 2017 season and so this week is one that I feel I have deserved.

On Sunday the Finals of the four tournaments played this week will be played before we move on to five new tournaments on Monday.


Roger Federer - 3.5 games v Grigor Dimitrov: The new World Number 1 will be looking to underline his status in that position by winning the title in Rotterdam on Sunday and Roger Federer is a strong favourite to do that. He won't have things completely his own way against Grigor Dimitrov, but Federer is playing at a very high level at the moment and I am not sure 'Baby Fed' will be able to stay with him.

The service numbers have been impressive from both players, although Dimitrov was being put under a lot of pressure by David Goffin in the Semi Final before injury ended that match unexpectedly.

Dimitrov should have success behind his serve, but I think Federer's return numbers have been more impressive so far in 2018 and that is going to be the difference between these two players on Sunday.

Ultimately I would expect Federer to create a few more break point opportunities with his returns of serve proving to be a little more effective of the two players. I don't doubt Dimitrov will be able to cause a few problems of his own, but I think the Federer serve has been working very well and can get Federer out of a few tough spots.

Matches between Federer and Dimitrov can be close and the latter has shown he can raise his performances against the best players. However I think Federer may open the door for success with a late break in the first set and then go on from there to record a fairly routine win while covering this number of games.

MY PICKS: Roger Federer - 3.5 Games @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 16-6, + 17.22 Units (44 Units Staked, + 39.14% Yield)