It is something that has been common in 2024, but the Picks have largely performed better this week and the Thursday selections will come from the WTA Abu Dhabi and ATP Marseille events being played.
Hopefully another winning day can be produced and this week can be the positive start of the recovery period that I have been looking for after the truly rough Australian Open.
Elena Rybakina - 3.5 games v Danielle Collins: Priorities certainly can change for all athletes, but especially female athletes that wish to start a family.
That is the situation for Danielle Collins even if some have suspected the frustrating injuries that have seen her World Ranking drop from Number 7 in July 2022 to her current Number 71 spot.
This is going to be the final year on the Tour and Collins has already shown that she wants to go out with some serious memories left on the court. After pushing Iga Swiatek all the way, and perhaps even blowing the chance to beat the top Seed in the Australian Open, the American crushed Naomi Osaka in the First Round in Abu Dhabi and that gives her a real edge in terms of knowing what to expect when Collins heads out onto the court.
She is facing Elena Rybakina who had a disappointing Second Round exit in Melbourne when going down 22-20 in an epic Tie-Breaker.
A title has already been won by Rybakina on the hard courts this season and she will be looking to bounce back when heading to the Middle East for the big tournaments before Indian Wells and Miami. Elena Rybakina knows she needs to string the wins together now before the clay court portion of the season and her big game will be tough for Danielle Collins to contain.
That was the case in the two hard court matches played between Elena Rybakina and Danielle Collins in 2023 and the former had a massive edge when it comes to the serving numbers.
You can never tell how a player is feeling after having almost three weeks off from the Tour and playing a first match in an event, but Rybakina could have too much power for Danielle Collins as long as she serves well.
An aggressive return game will keep Collins under pressure too and the World Number 5 can put a big win on the board.
Felix Auger-Aliassime - 3.5 games v Zhizhen Zhang: It has been a difficult twelve months for Felix Auger-Aliassime and he can be a tough player to trust to cover spreads with his relatively poor return performances.
He looked good in his first match in Marseille and Auger-Aliassime is likely going to receive plenty of support.
Serving well will always give him a chance to put some scoreboard pressure on opponents and he is facing some with a lot less experience in Zhizhen Zhang.
The three tournament losses suffered by Zhizhen Zhang this season have all been against top 20 Ranked opponents- Felix Auger-Aliassime is not amongst those numbers right now in his career, but he is capable of that level and Zhang may struggle to stick with this opponent if the Canadian can find his best.
In the matches against top 100 Ranked opponents, Zhizhen Zhang has really struggled to have an impact on the return and that is expected to be the case here.
And while the Felix Auger-Aliassime return is not always the most impressive part of his tennis, he has broken in 24% of return games played this season. This is a small sample and maintaining that level will be the challenge for Auger-Aliassime, but he can impose his tennis on this match and earn a solid win.
MY PICKS: Elena Rybakina - 3.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)
Felix Auger-Aliassime - 3.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)
Weekly Update: 4-3, + 0.66 Units (14 Units Staked, + 4.71% Yield)
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