Wimbledon Tennis Day 4 Picks 2022 (June 30th)

I mentioned I would not have a very long thread for Day 4 at Wimbledon and that has proven to be the case.

You can see the Picks I have below as well as the updated record for the week.

MY PICKS: Rafael Nadal - 7.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Diego Sebastian Schwartzman - 1.5 Sets @ 1.66 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Roberto Bautista Agut - 7.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Benjamin Bonzi - 1.5 Sets @ 2.25 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Maxime Cressy-Jack Sock Over 42.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Katie Boulter + 3.5 Games @ 1.72 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Simona Halep - 5.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Amanda Anisimova - 4.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Ajla Tomljanovic - 5.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Alize Cornet - 3.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Wimbledon 2022: 26-18, + 11.58 Units (88 Units Staked, + 13.16% Yield)

Wimbledon Tennis Day 3 Picks 2022 (June 29th)

The rain on Monday has meant the Wimbledon tournament is slightly behind schedule and four Ladies matches have yet to be completed in the First Round.

A wet morning in London will likely mean a delayed start to the Day 3 play and the start of the Second Round as the fans look out for more drama after two pretty strong days.

Both Wednesday and Thursday looks like they will be days impacted by the weather and I am not sure I am going to have the time to research and prepare any Picks from the Day 4 schedule. I will know more about that by the end of play on Wednesday, regardless of the results, but I should have a fuller thread for Day 5 when the Third Round and any remaining Second. Round matches are set to be played.

In this thread I am placing my Second Round Picks from the Wimbledon matches that are scheduled to be played on Wednesday.

MY PICKS: Frances Tiafoe - 5.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Ryan Peniston - 2.5 Games @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)

David Goffin - 1.5 Sets @ 2.25 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Alexander Bublik - 5.5 Games @ 1.75 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Jiri Vesely @ 2.37 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Cameron Norrie - 7.5 Games @ 2.10 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Andy Murray - 1.5 Sets @ 1.80 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Tim Van Rijthoven @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Marie Bouzkova - 2.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Angelique Kerber - 4.5 Games @ 2.10 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Irina-Camelia Begu - 3.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Diane Parry - 1.5 Games @ 1.80 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Emma Raducanu - 1.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Wimbledon 2022: 17-13, + 3.96 Units (60 Units Staked, + 6.60% Yield)

Wimbledon Tennis Day 2 Picks 2022 (June 28th)

I've never really understood why Wimbledon insist on such a late start on the two main courts, especially on wetter days when there is every chance they could send one or two matches onto those courts late in the day and play the matches under the roof.

I understand they want to keep the tournament as an 'open air' event for as much as possible, but it is starting to become the only one of the four Grand Slams that regularly has multiple matches failing to be completed in the early Rounds of the tournament. That means some players are going to be forced to play on back to back days and that is something that hurts the Men in particularly if they are dragged into a long five setter.

The reality is that there isn't much Wimbledon could have done about the rain, but wet conditions remain in London until the back end of the week, but the remainder of the tournament should be dry and allow the players to finish matches as scheduled.

One or two upsets have already been seen in the First Round and Wimbledon did provide a couple of very entertaining five set matches on Monday- Carlos Alcaraz survived, but Hubert Hurkacz was dumped out of the draw despite fighting back to force a decider from a position where Alejandro Davidovich Fokina had three straight match points for a straight sets victory.

The Women's draw is wide open, but Angie Kerber and Ons Jabeur both made their way into the Second Round and the other halves of the draws will get going on a dryer looking Tuesday.

Rafael Nadal - 8.5 games v Francisco Cerundolo: It has been three years since we last saw Rafael Nadal on the grass courts when he was a beaten Semi Finalist against rival Roger Federer, and a few weeks ago it felt like the Spaniard might be missing Wimbledon yet again.

A foot issue had meant playing through the pain at the French Open, although winning the second Grand Slam of the season is arguably the best medication he could have received. A couple of weeks of testing things out have resulted in Rafael Nadal deciding he will head to SW19 and the Calendar Grand Slam remains a real possibility, especially with Novak Djokovic set to miss out on the US Open barring a late change in governmental policy in the States.

Winning Wimbledon is arguably the biggest challenge Rafael Nadal faces on the Tour these days with the grass courts not ideal for the ailments he is regularly dealing with. In saying that, Nadal has reached the Semi Final in each of his last two visits to Wimbledon and the draw looks to be a good one to open his run.

Take nothing away from Francisco Cerundolo who has reached a career high World Ranking, but there is also no doubt that he is an inexperienced grass court player and facing someone like Nadal is going to be a mental test as much as a physical one. Any clay courter coming up will have admired Rafael Nadal and I don't think it will be much different for Cerundolo, which makes it a challenge to compete against the aura on the other side of the net.

Last year Francisco Cerundolo was beaten in the Third Qualifying Round at Wimbledon and his current Number 42 World Ranking underlines the improvement the 23 year old has made on the Tour. There is still work to do to understand the way to approach his tennis on the grass courts and the warm up events saw Francisco Cerundolo win just 58% of his service points in the three matches played.

That is a number that Rafael Nadal will be happy to see- it gives him a chance to find his rhythm on the court and it has been players that have the huge shots that have given him most trouble on the grass courts in recent times. It is not the case in this First Round match and I do think Rafael Nadal will be comfortable with the tennis he is going to have to play to win the match.

Rafael Nadal has not played on the grass since 2019, not in a competitive event anyway, but his serve has been strong in his last couple of visits to Wimbledon. He has been able to back that up with strong return play too and this is a player who will not take a point off when he enters the court, something that is likely going to wear down Francisco Cerundolo over the course of a couple of hours on Centre Court.

Matteo Berrettini - 7.5 games v Cristian Garin: From the first moments stepping on a grass court, Matteo Berrettini has felt comfortable on the surface. However, his rise to become one of the very best players on the surface over the last thirteen months has been impressive and there won't be many backing against the Italian reaching the Final at Wimbledon for the second season in succession.

He won the title at Queens Club in 2021, but it might have felt like the warm up events were going to be used to just rebuild some rhythm on the court after Matteo Berrettini missed the entirety of the clay court season with an injury. Once again, the love of the grass has shone through though and Matteo Berrettini has won the title in Stuttgart and Queens over the last three weeks, which means he comes into the third Grand Slam of the season with plenty of momentum.

Matteo Berrettini will always be tough to beat on the surface thanks to the monster serve he possesses- in 2019, 2021 and 2022, the service numbers have been remarkably similar and Berrettini is holding 92% of service games played in each of those seasons.

The improvement from 2019 to the last thirteen months has clearly been in the return game and Matteo Berrettini has become an effective player on that side of his tennis on the grass courts. When you are holding service games and winning as many points behind serve at the standard Matteo Berrettini is you don't need to break serve multiple times to win matches, but the Italian has improved to breaking in 21% of return games played.

Scoreboard pressure is as much to deal with as the quality of the Berrettini tennis and it is a huge challenge for Cristian Garin who lost both grass court matches in preparation for Wimbledon. The Chilean is a former top 20 Ranked player so has to be respected, but Cristian Garin has had mixed results on the faster surfaces and facing someone like Berrettini is a huge step up compared with the players that have beaten him over the last month.

Cristian Garin is not expected to get a lot of joy out of his return, but his own serve has been lacking the kind of bite he would want and I do think Matteo Berrettini may continue his recent dominance of their head to head.

The Italian has won the last two matches between these players, although they last met in May 2021, and Matteo Berrettini has held 87% of service games played compared with Cristian Garin's 60% mark in those matches. On the grass courts there may be a wider gap between the players and I think Matteo Berrettini will secure a strong opening win in SW19.

MY PICKS: Rafael Nadal - 8.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Matteo Berrettini - 7.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Felix Auger-Aliassime-Maxime Cressy Over 39.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)

Brandon Nakashima - 7.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Emil Ruusuvuori - 6.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Marcos Giron - 1.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Dan Evans - 5.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Filip Krajinovic - 4.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Jack Draper - 4.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Viktorija Golubic - 1.5 Games @ 1.83 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Kirsten Flipkens - 3.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Ajla Tomljanovic - 2.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)

Serena Williams - 4.5 Games @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Amanda Anisimova - 5.5 Games @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Camila Giorgi - 4.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Donna Vekic @ 2.20 Bet365 (2 Units)

UPDATED PICK: Cristian Garin - 1.5 Sets @ 2.10 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Wimbledon Update: 8-7 , - 0.28 Units (30 Units Staked, - 1% Yield)

Wimbledon Tennis Day 1 Picks 2022 (June 27th)

And just like that, the third Grand Slam of the 2022 Tennis season is set to begin.

It feels like only yesterday we were dealing with the 'will he or won't he?' drama at the Australian Open surrounding Novak Djokovic's participation, but now we are more than halfway through the season.

Rafael Nadal has been the player who benefited the most from Djokovic's absence in Melbourne as he won his 21st Grand Slam title to move ahead of the Serb and Roger Federer, but he then doubled down by winning in Paris and the Calendar Slam remains a possibility.

In reality I think it will be very difficult, especially with the Nadal half of the draw loaded with the grass court threats that Novak Djokovic has avoided. The defending Champion has not lost a match at Wimbledon since 2017 having won the titles here in 2018, 2019 and 2021 and Novak Djokovic is the favourite to win a seventh title in SW19 to move alongside Pete Sampras and Federer.

He can play his way into the tournament and I think he will be the player to beat, although Matteo Berrettini may feel he can go one better than last season when beaten by Djokovic in the Final. That could be the Final in 2022 and I do think the Italian will be happier with his potential route to the Final much more than Rafael Nadal who heads up the bottom half of the draw.

A dark horse to make the big breakthrough could be Felix Auger-Aliassime and at around 16-1 I do think he will give you a real run for your money. However, the draw could have been much kinder with Maxime Cressy first up for the Canadian fresh off his run to the Eastbourne Final, and the likes of Taylor Fritz, Marin Cilic and Nadal make up a tough Quarter.

Iga Swiatek has quickly established herself as the best player in the world on the WTA side of the Tour since Ashleigh Barty abruptly retired and the World Number 1 is a clear favourite to win the Wimbledon title to add to the French Open crown won earlier this month.

The lack of grass court tennis to prepare is a bit of a concern for someone who is playing for just the third time at Wimbledon and who has previously lost in the First Round and the Fourth Round. There is a mental edge that Swiatek will hold over the rest of the field, but I think someone like Alize Cornet could be a potential problem in the Third Round as long as she has overcome whatever she was dealing with at the end of her Semi Final in Bad Homburg last week (I think it was cramp rather than anything more sinister).

There are some big names that could also be waiting to end the Iga Swiatek winning run, but most of those will be avoided until the Semi Final at the earliest, by which time Swiatek could be in supreme form.

Petra Kvitova, Simona Halep and a returning Serena Williams are all potential Semi Final opponents and all of those have won the Wimbledon title so know what it takes for grass court success.

Cori Gauff is another player who has shown she is well adept at playing on the grass and coming out of that Quarter of the draw will be a huge challenge. It may also mean Iga Swiatek is in a position to sweep off her Semi Final opponent if they have been taxed as much as they may be before they reach that final four stage.

The headlines will be initially all about Serena Williams and I do think the draw has given her a chance to play her way into the tournament. The early Rounds are not that intimidating and the American looked to be moving pretty well in Eastbourne, albeit with the help of a Doubles partner.

It would be the story of all stories if Williams was to return and win the tournament, but I think she will end up coming up short either in the Third or Fourth Round.

It feels like a top loaded draw at Wimbledon in the Ladies Singles, but there are some serious names in the bottom who will feel they have benefited from avoiding those mentioned.

Angelique Kerber is a former Champion here and continues to play strong grass court tennis, while Beatriz Haddad Maia has been the form grass court player of the summer and could not have hand-picked a much better draw for herself.

The Brazilian may have to deal with a solid grass courter in Belinda Bencic in the Third Round, but the latter had to withdraw from Berlin with an injury and may not be at 100%. With Anett Kontaveit the highest Seed in the Quarter, Beatriz Haddad Maia has to feel she has all of the tools to go very deep and I fully expect her to have her best ever Grand Slam result having never made it to the Third Round previously.

Beating Bencic may really open things up for Beatriz Haddad Maia, while I also think Jelena Ostapenko has a real opportunity here as a former Wimbledon Semi Finalist.

All of the journalists will be looking at Emma Raducanu, but injury and an awful First Round draw makes it hard to believe she can have as deep a run as 2021.

The favourite to come out of the section and reach the Final is Ons Jabeur, but she did not deal with the pressure very well in Paris, and I do wonder if she can cope this time. She does have a couple of Quarter Final runs at Grand Slams under her belt, but I think she is short enough as the second favourite to win the Wimbledon title.

Purely on the odds, Angie Kerber looks a massive price at 33-1 to win the title here and I certainly think she could have a very strong run having reached the Semi Final here last season and twice reaching the Final.

Novak Djokovic - 9.5 games v Soon Woo Kwon: It has been a difficult season for Novak Djokovic beginning with the debacle around his participation at the Australian Open, while some of his team were a little critical of his performance in losing the French Open Quarter Final against Rafael Nadal.

He is the top Seed at Wimbledon in the third Grand Slam of the season after the decision had been made to ban Daniil Medvedev (and the other Russian and Belarusian players on the Tour), while Alexander Zverev misses out with an injury suffered in the French Open Semi Final. Novak Djokovic may feel he deserves his spot at the top of the Men's draw having won the Wimbledon title in each of the last three runnings of the event and he has won twenty-one straight matches in this part of London.

The Serb played an exhibition event last week to prepare for Wimbledon, but Novak Djokovic decided to avoid playing any competitive grass court tennis before opening Centre Court on Monday. While some players may need some time to get used to playing on the grass, it hasn't really affected Novak Djokovic in the past and he didn't play any warm up events before winning the title here in 2021.

He did drop the first set of his First Round match against young British hope Jack Draper twelve months ago, but Djokovic breezed through the next three sets. That was one of just two sets dropped at Wimbledon in 2021 and I do think we will see Novak Djokovic break into his stride pretty quickly on a court he will feel is his own these days.

First up for the top Seed is Soon Woo Kwon who has dropped into World Number 75 and who has been well beaten in both grass court matches played in preparation for Wimbledon. Soon Woo Kwon has struggled with his serve on the grass in those defeats with just 56% of service points won and that has led to holds in under 60% of service games played.

On a surface like grass, that is a pretty poor number, although I do think Soon Woo Kwon is a better server than he has shown in his defeats to Christopher O'Connell and Hugo Gaston this summer.

The serve has been put under pressure when Soon Woo Kwon has faced a top 50 opponent on the Tour in 2022 and the big problem for him is trying to recover breaks of serve. On the face of things you may not consider Novak Djokovic to be one of the top servers on the Tour, but it is a potent weapon for him and I do think the defending Champion is going to be putting this opponent under an immense amount of pressure during this match.

Novak Djokovic and Soon Woo Kwon met on the clay courts last season and the former crushed his opponent with five breaks of serve and only facing a single break point. Early Rounds of a Grand Slam can be difficult to cover numbers of this size on the handicap, but Novak Djokovic has won his last three First Round matches at Wimbledon by margins of 12, 8 and 11 game margins.

I am expecting Djokovic to earn the multiple breaks of serve needed to cover this mark and he can put down a marker as he begins the defence of the Wimbledon title for a fourth time in a row.

Andy Murray - 5.5 games v James Duckworth: The injury sustained in Stuttgart looked to have come at a very bad time for Andy Murray after a couple of impressive weeks on the grass courts. He had decided to skip much of the clay court season in order to be well prepared for Wimbledon and reached the Final in Surbiton and Stuttgart and looked well on the way to being Seeded in SW19.

The injury in the Final in Stuttgart meant Murray had to withdraw from the tournament in Queens and some felt he may even be forced to miss Wimbledon, which would have been a major blow for the former World Number 1. The tennis looked to be in a good place in his two grass court tournaments and the positive noises coming from the camp have to be encouraging for Murray who has landed in a decent portion of the draw.

A big question for Andy Murray is whether the serve has been affected by the injury- he had been winning 70% of points behind serve and holding in 91% of service games played on the grass and the former Wimbledon Champion will be the first to admit how important it will be to serve well if he is going to have a real impact in the tournament.

At his best, Andy Murray was a hugely successful return player, but he has only been breaking in 18% of return games played on the grass this season. That is a mark that is someway below his 2021 numbers, and it is definitely an area that Andy Murray will want to improve here.

The First Round sees Murray paired with James Duckworth who has been plenty successful on the grass courts himself, albeit at a different kind of level than Andy Murray. This season has been a little disappointing for James Duckworth having lost three matches in a row before Qualifying for Eastbourne and being beaten in the First Round of the main draw there.

His defeats to Paul Jubb and Gilles Simon are particularly disheartening and James Duckworth has struggled with his return on the surface, while holding 83% of service games played. The problem for the Australian is that his numbers have largely been built around playing opponents outside the top 50 of the World Rankings and I expect him to have some reservations about playing an opponent like Andy Murray.

Their two previous matches have been won by the British player relatively comfortably.

Both of those were played a long time ago, but it was clear that Andy Murray was able to exert a lot of pressure on James Duckworth thanks to the serve and return. While his return has not been at the level of old on the grass in 2022, I do think the best of five set format gives Andy Murray a chance to build the pressure on James Duckworth over the course of this First Round match and the spread looks to be a game or two lower than where I had it.

MY PICKS: Novak Djokovic - 9.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Andy Murray - 5.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)

Casper Ruud - 5.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Thiago Monteiro - 2.5 Games @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Frances Tiafoe - 5.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)

Daniel Altmaier @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Ryan Peniston - 5.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Grigor Dimitrov - 5.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Fred (2 Units)

David Goffin - 1.5 Sets @ 1.80 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Alexander Bublik - 1.5 Sets @ 2.10 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Beatriz Haddad Maia - 4.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet365 (2 Units)

Sorana Cirstea - 4.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet365 (2 Units)

Julie Niemeier - 3.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Caroline Garcia - 4.5 Games @ 1.83 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Martina Trevisan - 2.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Yanina Wickmayer - 2.5 Games @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Boxing Picks 2022- Jesse Rodriguez vs Wisaksil Wangek (June 25th)

There really isn't anything more you can say about THAT Artur Beterbiev performance that hasn't already been said over the last week.

I think many would have predicted that Beterbiev's power will eventually prevail against Joe Smith Jr, but the latter is teak-tough so to see him obliterated in two Rounds is stunning to say the least. You have to believe that Artur Beterbiev will be moving up the pound for pound list, while he reminded everyone that he is still the man to beat in the Light Heavyweight Division even after Dmitry Bivol's strong win against Canelo Alvarez.

Unlike Bivol, Artur Beterbiev crushed a legitimate Light Heavyweight Champion and I would still favour him over Dmitry Bivol, although any Undisputed Title clash looks to have to wait until 2023 at the very least.

Both Russian fighters will likely be heading to the United Kingdom before the end of the calendar year to clear away some mandatories and Dmitry Bivol may still be in line for a rematch with Canelo, a much more lucrative fight than risking it all against Artur Beterbiev. We will see how it all shakes up with those fighters over the course of the next twelve months, but I will say that all British fans should be looking to see the two Light Heavyweight Champions if they do end up on these shores.

This weekend we have an absolutely stacked card coming out of Texas where three World Titles are on the line (would have been four, but for an injury to Julio Cesar Martinez) and the top of the bill looks like a really good fight.

We also have a card in the United Kingdom earlier in the night which is headed up by Sam Eggington and Adam Azim as Sky Sports and Boxxer continue to build the profile of their new look stable.

Jesse Rodriguez vs Wisaksil Wangek

A few months ago, Wisaksil Wangnek had to withdraw from the latest fight between four in the Super Flyweight Division who have given the fans plenty of entertainment over the years.

That opened the door for Jesse Rodriguez to not only move up in weight, but on short notice and the 22 year old became the youngest active World Champion when beating Carlos Cuadras on the cards.

He knocked him down on his way to that victory and it has meant Jesse Rodriguez has decided to stay at this weight and defend the World Title he won in February. Some may have opted to take an easier test, but Jesse Rodriguez has underlined his character by giving Sor Rungvisai his shot that was missed a few months back.

A former World Champion, Wisaksil Wangek has the big wins over Roman Gonzalez that brought him to prominence and also holds a victory over Juan Francisco Estrada. He did lose the rematch with the Mexican having made a strange decision to box from the orthodox stance, but it was a close fight and three relatively easy wins have been earned at a lower level since then.

He is 35 years old now and you do have to wonder how much is left in the tank, but this does feel a big step up for Jesse Rodriguez.

The win over Carlos Cuadras is a respectable one, but there were other factors to consider- for starters he had not been in the ring for sixteen months since being stopped for the first time in his career by Juan Francisco Estrada. He had also been beaten in half of his previous six fights and I think Sor Rungvisai would have done a pretty strong number on him if they had faced off as scheduled.

In saying that, it is a win that will have given Jesse Rodriguez confidence and another win here will set him up for some more huge fights in the months ahead. He may see the Estrada win over Wangek as the blueprint to follow, but I would be surprised if the veteran gets his tactics as badly wrong as he did that day and instead I think he will go back to the tried and tested methods which saw him win a World Title against a future Hall of Famer and defending it very well too.

Bam Bam is going to be a force for years to come in and around this Division, but I still think Sor Rungvisai has something to say in the Super Flyweight ranks. His experience could be key and his physicality will be something that Rodriguez has not faced before and I just feel the former World Champion is being dismissed a bit too easily for my liking, at least by the oddsmakers.

We should see Jessica McCaskill retain her World Titles, but there isn't much in the prices that makes anything appealing. The likelihood is she will win a Unanimous Decision on the cards, but the layers have priced that up very short and instead my focus is on the World Titles being defended in the Super Bantamweight Division.

Murodjon Akhmadaliev is defending his World Titles against Ronny Rios, who has only been beaten by the best, and MJ is looking for a win that may set up an Undisputed bout at this level against Stephen Fulton.

We have seen him called out by Fulton following the American's win over Daniel Roman, but Murodjon Akhmadaliev has to focus on himself and make sure he remains a World Champion.

MJ took the World Title from the aforementioned Daniel Roman, and I do think he will have too much power for Ronny Rios.

The latter has won four in a row since being stopped by Azat Hovhannisyan and it is perhaps the win over unbeaten Diego De La Hoya which has pushed him back into this position. However, Ronny Rios has been beaten when stepping up to this kind of level and has twice been stopped, while the 32 year old may not have the resistance he once did.

I don't want to dismiss Ronny Rios easily, but I do think Akhmadaliev will be able to produce a statement win to put himself in a position to call out Stephen Fulton behind a win someway around the middle of this fight.

We have a number of younger fighters on the card in Coventry on Saturday night and many of the fights are expected to be one-sided, showcase short of deals.

Adam Azim has a big reputation and is expected to win another bout in impressive style as he continues his climb in the professional ranks, but the layers are expecting a very early night too.

His opponent looked like he couldn't wait to get this fight over and done with and I think you can back Azim to win very early and start to fulfil Shane McGuigan's hopes of seeing his talented fighter put a streak of KOs together.

Further Picks from this card will come from Dylan Cheema and Sam Eggington headlined bouts.

After winning the Boxxer Tournament and signing up with the promotion and Sky Sports, Dylan Cheema is ready to really get his career going. He is going to be well backed by the promotion, but also the Sikh and Punjabi community and there is an excitement about what and where Cheema can go.

He is fighting Stu Greener who has lost eight of his twelve pro bouts, although 'Little Canelo' is coming in off a victory. Three of the eight defeats have been in stoppages in the first two Rounds and that includes losses to unbeaten Mark Chamberlain and Adam Azim.

We don't really know the kind of power that Dylan Cheema possesses with a single stoppage in five wins, but he is spiteful enough and I think Greener has been picked as someone he can physically impose himself on.

With a build towards a huge domestic fight with Azim likely being set up, I think it is worth a small interest in backing Dylan Cheema to win this one in the Second Round to match The Assassin's win over Greener.

I also like Sam Eggington's chances of beating an unbeaten opponent who has never fought outside Poland and who will not be used to the kind of output and stamina that Eggington will put on him from Round One.

Przemyslaw Zsyk has only been Ten Rounds once before and this fight has been scheduled for Twelve Rounds- I am not sure he will be ready to deal with the pressure that Eggington can put on opponents and I think the 28 year old can win this one inside the distance.

His up and down career makes it hard to fully know how much Sam Eggington will have left if he does get up to the World level, but I think he is going to be given every chance to do that. I expect his all-action pressure to break down Zsyk and a Stoppage can be earned.

MY PICKS: Wisaksil Wangek to Win @ 5.00 Sky Bet (1 Unit)

Murodjon Akhmadaliev to Win Between 5-8 @ 3.75 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Adam Azim to Win in the First Round @ 2.37 Sky Bet (1 Unit)

Dylan Cheema to Win in the Second Round @ 5.00 Sky Bet (1 Unit)

Sam Eggington to Win by KO/TKO/Disqualification @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Boxing 2022 Update: 25-38, + 19.86 Units (114 Units Staked, + 17.42% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2022 (June 25th)

The four tournaments being played in three different venues will come to a conclusion on Saturday as the attention has firmly turned to the end of the grass court season.

Everything culminates with the third Grand Slam tournament of the 2022 season as Wimbledon is set to begin on Monday and it looks like we will have two largely dry weeks in South West London.

I will have fuller thoughts on the two draws and potential winners in the Day 1 Picks for the tournament that will get underway soon, but this thread is focused on the conclusion of the warm up events with four Finals scheduled to be played on Saturday.

After a mixed Friday, I am only focusing on the two WTA Finals to be played in Eastbourne and Bad Homburg before my own attention also shifts to Wimbledon. It has been a solid week for the Tennis Picks and one I am looking to round off with a flourish.

Petra Kvitova v Jelena Ostapenko: The two time Wimbledon Champion has come into form at a good time, although I am never convinced that winning a tournament in the week prior to a Grand Slam is the best timing. In saying that, Petra Kvitova needed to pick up some confidence and I am a little surprised to see her set as the underdog in the Final in Eastbourne.

I have to credit the defending Champion Jelena Ostapenko for producing a strong week and she has long been an effective grass court player. The former French Open Champion has a big, aggressive game that is well suited to the surface and Jelena Ostapenko has enjoyed considerable success on the grass courts.

Her numbers have backed that up in recent seasons on the grass, but there is no doubting how much Petra Kvitova enjoys playing on the green stuff herself.

The consistency has been lacking over the last twelve months, but Petra Kvitova has found her serve this week and she has some strong wins behind her. The Semi Final victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia is particularly impressive considering how well the Brazilian has been playing on the grass and Petra Kvitova will feel her serve can at least contain some of the aggressive returning that will be produced by Jelena Ostapenko.

She is also getting plenty of first serves in play to make things a bit easier, while Jelena Ostapenko's first serve percentage will need to be significantly improved to avoid having an aggressive Kvitova get after the second serve. If the firsts are landing, Ostapenko can play first-strike tennis in a Final that should see both players looking to get on the front foot and pile the pressure on their opponent.

I do think that is where the high percentage of first serves landing will give Petra Kvitova an edge, although Jelena Ostapenko has been the stronger returner of the two.

Jelena Ostapenko looks to be peaking in time for the Final, but Petra Kvitova has only faced two break points since her Third Round win over Katie Boulter. I think that is key to the outcome of this one and I think Petra Kvitova will overturn a tight loss to Jelena Ostapenko from their sole meeting in 2022 which came on the hard courts in Dubai.

The Czech lefty was unfortunate that day, but I think she is playing well enough to earn the edges in this Final and can win as the underdog.

Bianca Andreescu - 3.5 games v Caroline Garcia: The benefit of having a walkover in the Semi Final will have helped Bianca Andreescu in winning this Final, but I also think she has been playing the stronger grass court tennis of the two competing.

I am a little biased towards Bianca Andreescu as a big fan of her tennis, but her numbers have backed up a decent run on the grass courts and I think she could have a strong impact at Wimbledon next week. That will be the focus for the Canadian, but she will also be aware that Angelique Kerber used a title win here to reach the last four at Wimbledon last year and so winning the Bad Homburg tournament could be a huge boost for Bianca Andreescu.

She is up against Caroline Garcia who needed almost three hours on court to win her Semi Final on Friday, while it cannot be ignored that the fortune has been on the side of the Frenchwoman in her run to this Final.

I have to credit Garcia for playing the big points as well as she has, but the margins are tight and she will need to overcome some fatigue, emotional and physical, to be able to win the big points in this one too. Running out of energy will be a tough obstacle to overcome for Caroline Garcia against someone like Bianca Andreescu, while the serve will have to be working as it has been in the last couple of Rounds.

Caroline Garcia has saved twenty-four out of twenty-eight break points faced in her last three matches, but it is hard to imagine her continuing to get out of those jams consistently. In the Final she will be facing a player who has found at least three breaks of serve in every match played on the grass in 2022 and Bianca Andreescu has put a lot of pressure on her opponents by winning 46% of return points played on the surface over the last month.

Her own serve can be a little inconsistent, but Caroline Garcia is not exactly the most dominant of return players and I do think Bianca Andreescu can contain her threat. In her three wins here this week, the former US Open Champion has only been broken three times and has faced just ten break points, which is fewer than Caroline Garcia had to face in just her Quarter Final match alone.

With the additional time to rest, Bianca Andreescu looks like she has all the tools to win her first title since that aforementioned US Open in 2019 as the Canadian begins her climb back to the kind of level she belongs amongst the very elite of the WTA Tour.

MY PICKS: Petra Kvitova @ 2.10 Bet365 (2 Units)

Bianca Andreescu - 3.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 33-26, + 6.06 Units (116 Units Staked, + 5.22% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2022 (June 24th)

The Wimbledon draw will be made bright and early on Friday morning with the tournament set to begin on Monday- the weather is forecasted for a pretty good two weeks in London and I think it should be a decent third Grand Slam of the season, even after the decision to ban certain nationalities and with the Ranking points removed.

It is a crucial draw for many and I will have a few more thoughts about that on Sunday when I should have the Day 1 Picks thread up.

For now the focus is on rounding out this week and a strong Thursday has put the Tennis Picks in a position to finish with a solid positive number.

All the Semi Final matches are scheduled to be played on Friday with the four Finals set to for a Saturday finish so all players can make their way to SW19 and be ready to compete.

MY PICKS: Maxime Cressy @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Alex De Minaur - 0.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Benjamin Bonzi-Stefanos Tsitsipas Over 22.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)

Roberto Bautista Agut-Antoine Bellier Over 20.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)

Bianca Andreescu + 3.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Alize Cornet - 2.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Beatriz Haddad Maia @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Jelena Ostapenko - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 30-22, + 8.98 Units (102 Units Staked, + 8.80% Yield)