It was a hugely frustrating Friday and Saturday considering the chances that the players selected had created.
Sometimes you have to accept you've made a poor selection, but when those players picked have more than double the number of Break Points compared with their opponents, but can't convert, it really is a case of bad luck and that can be very frustrating and disappointing.
Over the last month, it has felt like some of the luck needed for any Pick has been missing, although I have to be happier that the read on the matches has been about right.
Again, if a player is creating two or three times as many Break Points as the opponent, it means they are playing well enough to win matches in the manner expected, rather than missing the majority of those and handing over breaks of serve to scupper the selections. You have to believe that will change back around as long as players are not finding ways to blow matches when having ELEVEN Match Points come and go.
It is a really big week on the grass with some of the very best names on the Tour playing in events to get themselves ready for Wimbledon.
The WTA draw in Berlin looks incredibly loaded with the top talents, while the two Men's Finalists at Roland Garros are also back in action ahead of the start of the third Grand Slam of the season.
There should be plenty of good tennis to watch for the fans, but I hope that is backed up by a decent week for the Tennis Picks, which have suffered over the last three weeks.
Emma Navarro v Marta Kostyuk: She may be the World Number 10, but it has not been a strong calendar year for Emma Navarro and she is looking for some consistency to take into Wimbledon.
There are plenty of World Ranking points to protect in SW19 after a surprising run to the Quarter Final in 2024 and Emma Navarro as shown a liking to playing on the grass.
However, her inconsistent season was all on display at Queens last week where Emma Navarro was able to get past Beatriz Haddad Maia in a tough match before losing to Amanda Anisimova, the eventual Runner Up. The first serve was not working as well as Navarro would have been hoping last week and that has put pressure on ther return.
She is at least going up against an opponent in the First Round in Berlin who has not played a grass court match this season and Marta Kostyuk has not always been at her most comfortable on the surface.
Her numbers over the last couple of years on the grass have been a little disappointing and the early exit at the French Open will have knocked the confidence of the World Number 26. Over the last twelve months, Marta Kostyuk has dropped ten places in the World Rankings and the match up with Emma Navarro has been a tough one for her.
Both previous matches have been played on the hard courts and Emma Navarro is leading the head to head 2-0 as she has been able to get her teeth into the return games with a little more consistency. On the grass, you would have to give Navarro a bit more of an edge and she can win this match in the opening Round in Berlin.
Katerina Siniakova - 4.5 games v Viktoriya Tomova: Qualifying for the main draw should stand Katerina Siniakova in good stead in this First Round match and the World Number 73 should be able to display all of her grass court capabilities in this contest.
Being a strong Doubles player certainly helps on this surface where getting up to the net and putting the finishing touch to rallies can be important.
Katerina Siniakova was beaten early in Hertogenbosch, which will have been a disappointment, but the two wins here in Berlin should have given her a lot of confidence. She has not only served effectively in those wins, but Siniakova has had her eye in when it comes to the return and she has been creating a lot of Break Point chances in those wins.
Viktoriya Tomova will know all about the qualities of her opponent having been beaten twice by her on the Tour, including earlier this season on a hard court.
Despite being Ranked lower than Siniakova, Viktoriya Tomova was not forced to go through Qualifying and that means her sole match on the grass was a defeat in Hertogenbosch to eventual Champion Elise Mertens. That defeat does not look so bad after Mertens went on to lift the title, but Tomova has been a little inconsistent on the grass courts over the last few seasons.
The handicap mark is a significant one and that will need to be respected, but the feeling is that Katerina Siniakova can use the momentum of Qualifying to get the better of this opponent.
She has been the significantly better server in the head to head matches too and Katerina Siniakova can come away with a solid First Round win.
Alexander Bublik - 2.5 games v Alexandre Muller: The surprising run at Roland Garros may have ended in a relatively one-sided defeat, but Alexander Bublik will have taken so much from that performance.
In recent years his numbers on the grass courts have been impressive, even if the win-loss record could, and perhaps should, have been improved and that confidence from the second Grand Slam could set Alexander Bublik up for a very good third Grand Slam of the season.
There may be an outside chance of earning a Seed for Wimbledon with a big run in Halle, but the reality is that Alexander Bublik is still going to be dangerous with his capabilities of playing on a surface that so many find alien.
He returns for the first time since the French Open and Alexander Bublik can get the better of Alexandre Muller in the First Round.
The latter enters the tournament as the World Number 40, which is above Alexander Bublik, but Alexandre Muller has not really not enjoyed the grass court season.
The Frenchman has a career 3-5 record on the surface, but Muller can serve pretty well at times and that should show up on the grass courts. In those eight previous matches, Alexandre Muller has only won 58% of his service points played, but two of those matches have been against top 5 Ranked players and he has had stronger returning numbers when facing opponents that are not Ranked that high.
Alexander Bublik can be tough to trust- he is certainly someone who has to have got out of bed the right side on the morning of his match- but he does have solid serving numbers on the grass. If he can stick to that kind of level, Bublik can keep this opponent under some pressure and that may see him find a break or two that is needed to win and cover this handicap mark set.
MY PICKS: Emma Navarro @ 1.95 William Hill (1 Unit)
Katerina Siniakova - 4.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Alexander Bublik - 2.5 Games @ 1.66 Bet365 (1 Unit)
2025 Season: 93-79, + 6.75 Units (210 Units Staked, + 3.21% Yield)
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