Tennis Picks 2022 (April 27th)

There are two events being played on the ATP Tour this week and the WTA Madrid Masters is set to get underway with First Round action on Thursday.

Even then, I did not have any Tennis Picks on Tuesday after looking through the schedules at Estoril and Munich- the latter tournament has been hit with poor weather early in the week and they are still playing catch up with First Round action on Wednesday, although I do like the look of a couple of players in the Second Round.

One of those will depend on when the markets are formulated and whether the mark is where I would expect, but I will definitely have at least one selection from the ATP Munich event.

After a positive 3-1 start to the week, I am looking to really nail down some positive selections to build on the early momentum to take into the Madrid Masters event which is being played over a ten day period. The run to the French Open really picks up steam in May and I am looking for some momentum behind the Tennis Picks to take into the second Grand Slam of the season.

Alexander Zverev - 4.5 games v Holger Rune: A home favourite will return to the court after reaching the Monte Carlo Masters Semi Final and I do think Alexander Zverev should be heading towards the French Open with a maiden Grand Slam in mind. Rafael Nadal is going to be returning from an injury next week in Madrid, while Novak Djokovic has looked pretty vulnerable having played little competitive tennis in 2022 and Alexander Zverev has long been one of the stronger players on the clay courts.

He is making his first appearance here in Munich this year and that could leave Alexander Zverev potentially vulnerable to an upset.

Going up against Holger Rune will be a challenge with the young Dane long been producing strong numbers on the clay courts and having won a match in Munich. The big test for Holger Rune is going to be transfer his form on the clay courts from the Challenger Tour to the main ATP Tour and that has been something that he has yet to do with any real consistency.

Over the last twelve months, Holger Rune has a 6-9 record in main ATP events on this surface, while he has won just 58% of points played behind serve.

It is something that Alexander Zverev will look to exploit and he has broken in 38% of his return games played on the clay in 2022. A look at a bigger sample over the last twelve months shows the German has been able to produce solid return numbers and he has managed to win 43% of return points played which has led to breaks in 35% of return games played.

I do think Holger Rune will have some success attacking the Alexander Zverev serve, but there looks to be a significant edge in favour of the top Seed in this tournament. The bigger first serve may see Alexander Zverev get out of a couple more jams and I think he performed well enough in Monte Carlo to believe he will be able to put Rune under immense pressure.

The last couple of appearances in Munich have ended disappointingly for Alexander Zverev who has suffered Quarter Final losses each time, but he is a former Champion here. Despite those relatively early losses, Zverev has won his Second Round match with some comfort and I think he is going to be eventually break down the Holger Rune game on his way to another last eight appearance in Munich.

MY PICKS: Alexander Zverev - 4.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)
Emil Ruusuvuori - 3.5 Games @ 1.90 Bet365 (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 3-1, + 2.96 Units (8 Units Staked, + 37% Yield)