Tennis Picks 2026 (Thursday 5th February)

It has been a tough week and another match that saw the fine margins seemingly working against the selections will sting.

The tournaments are into the Quarter Final stage for the most part ahead of a set of events that will have some of the biggest names on the Tour involved.

That means this is not the time to press and on Thursday there will only be the one selection from the Quarter Final matches to be played in Abu Dhabi- another setback may mean calling time on this week and going again in a few days time.

Clara Tauson v McCartney Kessler: The Quarter Final Round at the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi that begins the Middle East swing looks wide open after Belinda Bencic was forced to withdraw from the tournament.

An illness means the defending Champion remains unbeaten in Abu Dhabi, but she cannot retain her World Ranking points, while also opening the door for the remaining eight players in the tournament.

Both Clara Tauson and McCartney Kessler have to sense an opportunity to pick up a title and some vital Ranking points- both are currently inside the top 32 of the World Rankings, which means direct entry into some of the biggest tournaments as well as being Seeded when it comes to Grand Slam tournaments. It cannot be underestimated the importance of those Seeding places early in those Slam events and both would appreciate maintaining those spots after failing to reach the second week at the Australian Open.

Neither player has dropped a set in Abu Dhabi, although it is McCartney Kessler who has had to come through two matches to reach the Quarter Final. Both wins are going to give the American confidence and she will be looking to continue to serve well, especially on the second serve, to try and keep the pressure on all those who stand across the net.

This is also going to be a key part of Clara Tauson's game after a dominant opening win.

Her first serve has done more damage compared with McCartney Kessler's, but Tauson can sometimes be put under a bit more pressure when throwing in too many second serves.

However, that first serve has been a big enough weapon to put Clara Tauson to win a lot more matches than she loses and it is going to be the key to the outcome of this Quarter Final.

Neither player can really state they have been as effective on the return of serve as they would have wanted to be when it comes to play hard court tennis. That does put more pressure on the delivery to make sure the scoreboard does not get away from them, and it is Clara Tauson who has tended to have a slightly superior return game of the two players.

There is not going to be much in this match with both capable of taking the racquet out of the hands of the other behind a strong serve.

You just have to believe a bit more in the experience of Clara Tauson as long as she can get around 62% of her first serves in play- she was very good in the Second Round win, but an average of around 60% over the course of the last twelve months may still be good enough to edge past McCartney Kessler as the narrow favourite in this Quarter Final.

MY PICKS: Clara Tauson @ 1.91 William Hill (1 Unit)

Weekly Update: 0-4, - 4 Units (4 Units Staked, - 100% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2026 (Wednesday 4th February)

In a long season, you cannot expect to have a winning day every day.

That is simply not a sustainable expectation, and there are going to be moments and periods of frustration.

Two of the three selections made on Tuesday were simply poor Picks and never looked like winning.

A third looked to be on course for a win, but Emma Navarro played some brutally poor tennis at the end of the deciding set that ultimately ripped that winner away from us- she had won the second set with a bagel and that meant just needing to get to four or more games in the final set to earn a victory for the selection, even if she would go on to lose the match.

At 3-3, Navarro moved into a 0-30 lead on the Hailey Baptiste serve and looked like she was ready to hit the four game mark, but it was right at that moment that she lost eight points in a row and was suddenly 5-3 behind.

Things like that will happen in a sport that is decided by the finest of fine margins, but that doesn't mean we have to like it and especially not on a day when it rounds out a poor performance.

Belinda Bencic - 3.5 games v Sonay Kartal: Playing in Abu Dhabi is clearly much to the liking of Belinda Bencic and she has won two of the last three tournaments played here. The defending Champion earned a Bye through the First Round as the top Seed in the tournament and Bencic is going to want a strong response to what was a disappointing Second Round exit at the Australian Open.

Opening up against a Qualifier can be challenging, even for the top players on the Tour and Sonay Kartal has won three matches at the tournament without dropping a set.

The British player reached the Semi Final in Auckland and pushed Elina Svitolina all the way to a final set Tie-Breaker, which is a big achievement considering how well Svitolina played in Melbourne. An early loss in the Australian Open would have been a blow, but Sonay Kartal has had a decent twelve months on the hard courts and that will give her some real confidence and belief.

A lot of credit has to be given to the World Number 61 for having a 3-3 record when facing top 20 Ranked opponents on the hard courts over the last twelve months. Sonay Kartal also has a pretty solid 9-8 record in that time when facing players that come into the match Ranked higher than herself and this is a player that has shown that she can keep the pressure ramped up through strong serving.

With that said, Sonay Kartal will not be intimidated about facing this opponent.

However, it is going to be a significant challenge to beat Belinda Bencic who has won nine matches in a row in Abu Dhabi and who has dropped just four sets in the tournament. The loss in Melbourne would have stung as Belinda Bencic will feel she was the better player in the Second Round, while the World Number 9 has a 21-4 record when facing opponents Ranked outside of the top 20 on the hard courts over the last twelve months.

Belinda Bencic did arrive at the tournament in much stronger form in 2025 having reached the Australian Open Fourth Round, but she did produce plenty of wins last month.

There will be some moments where Belinda Bencic will be challenged by Sonay Kartal and she will need a bit of time to become accustomed with the ball coming back over the net in this first meeting between the players.

At the end of the day, the conditions here have been ideal for Belinda Bencic and the defending Champion can protect her unbeaten record from the last two appearances in Abu Dhabi by winning and doing so in a manner capable of covering this spread.

Alexandra Eala - 1.5 games v Aliaksandra Sasnovich: It is always going to be difficult for a former top 30 player to have to go through Qualifying to enter main draws at events they would usually have taken in without the need for the extra, pressurised matches.

That has been the case for 31 year old Aliaksandra Sasnovich who has slipped out of the top 100 of the World Rankings and been struggling to turn things around.

She has Qualified in Brisbane and Melbourne, but that has been about as far as the run has gone, while Aliaksandra Sasnovich will enter the main draw in Abu Dhabi as a Lucky Loser.

Playing with house money can make any player dangerous, but it has been a tough year on the hard courts for Sasnovich when playing some of the better players on the Tour.

In this one the World Number 109 is also going to have to deal with a fiery crowd as the fans have lined up to support Alexandra Eala, although the experience edge is firmly with the underdog.

Over the last several months, Alexandra Eala has really made a strong move in the World Rankings, but the 20 year old is still vulnerable to an upset and has a 23-14 record against players Ranked outside of the top 50. The numbers are solid when only focusing on matches that are played against opponents lower in the World Rankings, but even then Eala is just 21-13.

As the experience grows, you would expect Alexandra Eala to be able to produce a much stronger record which would be more reflective of the numbers being put together.

For now it makes it a little tougher to believe in her, but Aliaksandra Sasnovich has been struggling at this kind of level and she could come up short again.

MY PICKS: Belinda Bencic - 3.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (1 Unit)

Alexandra Eala - 1.5 Games @ 1.85 William Hill (1 Unit)

Weekly Update: 0-3, - 3 Units (3 Units Staked, - 100% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2026 (Tuesday 3rd February)

The start of the men's Final at the Australian Open would have certainly gotten fans to sit up and take notice and just for a brief moment it felt like Novak Djokovic was going to be on his way to creating history by winning a twenty-fifth Grand Slam title.

Credit has to be given to Carlos Alcaraz for not panicking after seeing almost everything go wrong in the first set and he very quickly took control of the Final.

This time even the multiple Break Points saved by Novak Djokovic were not enough to fend off the pressure created by the World Number 1.

On the day I did write on 'X' that the 4-4 game where Novak Djokovic had a Break Point in the fourth set could have perhaps been the key point and the former World Number 1 mentioned the same moment in the post-match presser. After saving a bunch of Break Points, Djokovic finally found a chance on the Alcaraz serve and breaking there may just have changed the momentum that had built up within the match.

Unlike Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz fought off that pressurised moment and eventually found another chance within the set to avoid having to dig in further.

With seven Grand Slam titles secured, Carlos Alcaraz is going to threaten the numbers that the Big Three created, although there are always going to be new faces ready to enter the Tour and create their own pathway on the Tour.

Right now it feels like the era of the 'Big Two', and Carlos Alcaraz looks to have moved a step ahead of Jannik Sinner- his record in his Grand Slam Finals is incredibly impressive already and the Spaniard is likely going to be set as the favourite at the next two Slams and possibly in New York City too.

We should see some of those big names back in action sooner than later with the Tour moving onto the big Middle East events this month and also having the first of the ATP 500 events being played.

The WTA Tour goes a step further with those same events in the Middle East down as 1000 events and with some of the top names on the entry lists at the time of writing.

Australian Open Champion Elena Rybakina had been on the list to play in Abu Dhabi this week, but it will surprise absolutely nobody that she has decided to skip the week after the brilliant tournament put together in Melbourne.

Four tournaments are being played this week, including the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi, but most of the biggest names are resting and recovering.

As the month progresses, more of those top players will be back in action ahead of the two Masters events coming up in March.

The Australian Open was a successful start to the year for the Tennis Picks, but it is a very long year and can only be considered a solid opening foundation laid.

Emma Navarro - 2.5 games v Hailey Baptiste: Two 24 year old American players meet in Abu Dhabi and neither made much of an impact at the Australian Open, which means there is some pressure to perform during this Middle East swing.

The last several months have been disappointing for Emma Navarro who had entered the top ten in the World Rankings, but is no edging out of the top 20.

She was beaten very early in Melbourne, but Navarro has won all three previous Tour matches against Hailey Baptiste and the latter has not really competed with the top 50 on the hard courts over the last twelve months.

In that time Hailey Baptiste has a 3-7 record in those matches and two of those wins were in Miami.

At her best Baptiste can be dangerous with a powerful game, but Emma Navarro has found a way to just neutralise her threat at key moments and that may be the same again in Abu Dhabi.

Anastasia Potapova - 5.5 games v Lucia Bronzetti: Reaching the Third Round at the Australian Open and given Aryna Sabalenka all she can handle will have given Anastasia Potapova a confidence boost.

However, she is the defending Champion in Cluj and that means there is some pressure to try and defend the World Ranking points with her live Ranking slipping back outside the top 80.

She can put everything into this week with the next tournament set to be Dubai when Anatasia Potapova is going to have to win some Qualifying matches to join the main draw. That is an additional pressure to deal with, but you have to expect Potapova to continue to get the better of this opponent.

All five previous meetings on the Tour have been won by Anastasia Potapova and that includes coming from a set down to beat Lucia Bronzetti in the Final here twelve months ago.

It has been a difficult few months for the Italian player who has dropped out of the top 100 of the World Rankings as the losses have piled up. Lucia Bronzetti was beaten in the final Round of Qualifying at the Australian Open and her serve is the more vulnerable of the two players in this First Round match in Cluj.

Asking Anastasia Potapova to cover this spread is never going to be straightforward, but she should have the Break Point opportunities to edge past the number.

Elena Gabriela Ruse - 4.5 games v Rebeka Masarova: The home favourite is playing an opponent who has failed to come through Qualifying at a couple of events Down Under and who is playing in the main draw for the first time this season.

Rebeka Masarova has dropped out of the top 100 of the World Rankings and she had a mixed year on the hard courts.

The first serve is more of a weapon than some may think, but there is a big drop off when the second serve is needed and Rebeka Masarova has struggled to get her teeth into return games. Last year she did upset Donna Vekic on the surface, but Elena Gabriela Ruse can use the home crowd to get on top of this match.

A strong run would see Elena Gabriela Ruse getting back up towards the top 50 in the World Rankings and this is another player who can get on top of points when the first serve is going in.

The higher Ranked player has had the stronger returning numbers over the last twelve months, while Elena Gabriela Ruse did beat Rebeka Masarova in the Semi Final here in Cluj three years ago.

On that day Elena Gabriela Ruse had the edge on the return of serve and although her overall record here is not the strongest, she was a Finalist in 2023 and the Romanian may have enough to get past this number set for the spread.

MY PICKS: Emma Navarro - 2.5 Games @ 1.66 Bet Fred (1 Unit)

Anastasia Potapova - 5.5 Games @ 2.00 William Hill (1 Unit)

Elena Gabriela Ruse - 4.5 Games @ 1.91 William Hill (1 Unit)

Season 2026: 37-23, + 16.30 Units (126 Units Staked, + 12.94% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2025 (Friday 7th February)

We are down to the business end of the tournaments that have been played this week and will be heading into some bigger events over the remainder of the month before the back to back Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami.

That has not stopped some big names playing this week and those names will be looking to add a title to their collection as the tournaments wind down.

Ranking points are significant. but an early title being bagged could spark the season while some of the other top players on the Tour are resting up for the upcoming events.

A couple of winners on Thursday just moved this week into a positive position and hopefully the same can happen on Friday to keep things going.

With the focus on Abu Dhabi and Rotterdam this week, we are down to the Semi Final and Quarter Final Rounds respectively at the events.

Elena Rybakina - 2.5 games v Belinda Bencic: Even Belinda Bencic had to admit that she could not have written a better story around her return to the Tour having reached the Semi Final in Abu Dhabi with a relatively comfortable win over Marketa Vondrousova in the Quarter Final on Thursday.

She has not dropped a set in the last two Rounds and this is going to be another significant boost for the World Ranking.

The next challenge looks another step up for Belinda Bencic, but she will have taken some confidence about where her tennis stands when taking a set from Coco Gauff at the Australian Open. That is the kind of level that is going to be needed to get the better of Elena Rybakina, who looks to still have one or two issues with a lingering back problem, but who has looked pretty strong all the same at this event.

The World Number 5 had pushed alongside the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Gauff, but results over the last twelve months have simply not been as consistent for Elena Rybakina to maintain the level needed to match those players.

Despite that, she is still very capable on the hard courts, although it is perhaps a surprise that Elena Rybakina has produced stronger numbers on the grass and clay courts rather than this surface.

In saying that, the Rybakina numbers on the hard courts are still very impressive and her serve is going to be key to the outcome of this Semi Final- both players will not want to offer up too many looks at the second serve, but Elena Rybakina might have a slight edge in the control behind the first serve compared with Belinda Bencic and that can be the difference.

An improvement in the first serve percentage needs to be made by the World Number 5, but the same can be said for Belinda Bencic.

Both players can be very aggressive on the return, which makes them dangerous, but the matches are adding up for the recently returned Swiss player and that could see her level dip at some stage during this match. She did hold herself together through difficult moments in the Quarter Final win, but Elena Rybakina is likely going to sustain the pressure on Belinda Bencic and it may lead to the higher Ranked player finding a way through to the Final with a cover of this handicap line.

MY PICKS: Elena Rybakina - 2.5 Games @ 1.91 Paddy Power (1 Unit)

Weekly Update: 3-1, + 1.54 Units (4 Units Staked, + 38.50% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2025 (Thursday 6th February)

The tournaments that are played in the Middle East tend to be concluded on Saturday and so we are already at the Quarter Final stage in Abu Dhabi, while the Second Round is completed in Rotterdam on Thursday.

For the second day in a row, there is one selection from each event in what has been a considered return to the Tennis Picks following the solid returns from the Australian Open.

Bigger events are coming up through the remainder of the month, which may offer up more selections, but we will see how that pans out when the tournaments come around and the only focus for now is on the Picks that are being made.

Belinda Bencic - 2.5 games v Marketa Vondrousova: The return to the Tour after becoming a mother could not have gone much better for Belinda Bencic and she taking full advantage of playing under a Protected Ranking or a Wild Card.

Last month she was able to surprisingly reach the Fourth Round at the Australian Open before losing to a top player in Coco Gauff and that effectively halved her World Ranking.

This week she entered the tournament in Abu Dhabi as the World Number 157, but two wins over top 52 Ranked opponents has helped Belinda Bencic reach the Quarter Final and her return continues to pick up serious momentum.

Next up is Marketa Vondrousova, who has also won two matches here and who also would have entered the Abu Dhabi tournament with something to prove.

Injury meant the World Number 37 was not able to play at the Australian Open, but Marketa Vondrousova has won all four sets played in this tournament and wins over Emma Raducanu and Yulia Putintseva have to be respected. Winning in the manner she has only makes Vondrousova more dangerous and any player that has a Grand Slam in the trophy cabinet can put together the tennis to win events like this.

The run has been surprising considering an injury suffered last month in Adelaide was enough to keep Marketa Vondrousova from attempting to play in the opening Grand Slam of 2025. The fact is that she had also missed all events in 2024 following an early exit as the defending Champion at Wimbledon, and both players will have something to prove.

Matches between these players have been competitive in the past, although this is the first time Belinda Bencic and Marketa Vondrousova are facing off since 2021 when they met twice in a short space of time at the Tokyo Olympics and Cincinnati Masters.

Both of those matches were won by Belinda Bencic and she does look the more likely winner of this Quarter Final on the form displayed over the last few weeks.

The first serve is going to be important for both players, but Bencic has looked a little more capable of protecting the second serve and that could prove to be the difference in a very close match. One concern for both is the amount of tennis being played in a short space of time having spent so much time away from the Tour, but Belinda Bencic has been playing with the confidence of a solid Australian Open behind her and she can edge out Marketa Vondrousova into the Abu Dhabi Semi Final ahead of big events in Doha and Dubai.

Stefanos Tsitsipas v Tallon Griekspoor: After watching Paula Badosa make such a big impact at the Australian Open, Stefanos Tsitsipas will be hoping to take some inspiration into turning his own form around.

The First Round loss in Melbourne would have really stung and Stefanos Tsitsipas has fallen out of the top ten in the World Rankings, while he also had a difficult year on the hard courts in 2024.

Beating the World Number 138 in the First Round in Rotterdam might not be a match that will live long in the memory, but it could be key for Stefanos Tsitsipas to just have something to build upon in a busy six weeks before the Tour moves onto the clay court part of the season.

This Second Round match is going to be much tougher when going up against Tallon Griekspoor, who is going to be backed by the home fans and who has enjoyed his recent visits to Rotterdam. Only Jannik Sinner has found a way to stop the Griekspoor runs in the last couple of seasons, but the World Number 1 is not involved this week and the win over Matteo Berrettini showed how effective the World Number 43 can be on an indoor hard court.

His serve can be a huge weapon on the indoor courts and that was the key for Tallon Griekspoor to just get the better of Matteo Berrettini, although the Italian will be frustrated by his defeat.

One big issue that Tallon Griekspoor has is getting enough out of the return, but he will be confident in his ability to win matches when getting into tie-breakers and hoping the scoreboard pressure from his own serving can crack an opponent.

This has to be a concern for Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has not been serving as well as he can, but who did put a strong display on the board in his First Round win.

He will have the mental edge having crushed Tallon Griekspoor in straight sets as the Australian Open two years ago and it was a match where Stefanos Tsitsipas produced the much stronger serving. That will be the challenge for him again and this is expected to be competitive in front of Tallon Griespoor's fans, but Stefanos Tsitsipas can find a way to edge past the home hope.

MY PICKS: Belinda Bencic - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (1 Unit)

Stefanos Tsitsipas @ 1.91 Bet365 (1 Unit)

Weekly Update: 1-1, - 0.17 Units (2 Units Staked, - 8.50% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2025 (Wednesday 5th February)

The sporting world never slows down and it is Simona Halep who has become the latest former Grand Slam Champion that has announced her retirement from tennis.

As the Romanian told the home fans, she has achieved all that she set out to do and winning the French Open and Wimbledon and also earning the World Number 1 Ranking and Simona Halep has to be credited for the career she has put together.

Injury has perhaps hastened the exit from the sport, but Halep sounded pretty happy about her decision and that is all any player can do when moving onto the next stage of their career.

The tournaments being played this week continue on Wednesday and there are a couple of selections from the events in Abu Dhabi and Rotterdam.

Alex De Minaur got the week off to a winning start, but hopefully that can be backed up with a couple more winners to just keep things ticking over.

Daria Kasatkina - 2.5 games v Ashlyn Krueger: Reaching the Quarter Final in Adelaide and following up with a Fourth Round run at the Australian Open means World Number 11 Daria Kasatkina has made a positive start to the season.

Twelve months ago, Daria Kasatkina reached the Final here in Abu Dhabi before a couple of disappointing early exits in Doha and Dubai and this is a month where she will be looking to move back into the top ten of the World Rankings.

An administrative error has led to some headlines that Daria Kasatkina would have preferred to avoid- her name was placed alongside the Spanish flag during the draw ceremony and that led to some believing Kasatkina may have switched allegiance from Russia to Spain, which has since been denied and an apology issued to the player.

It was already going to be difficult for Kasatkina to return home and this has not really helped at all, so it will be a challenge for the player to focus on her tennis.

The hope has to be that Daria Kasatkina will benefit from this match taking place in the middle of the week and a few days after the draw ceremony had been run. Her performances on the hard courts this season and over the last twelve months makes Daria Kasatkina a solid performer on the surface and she will be expecting to get the better of Ashlyn Krueger.

The 20 year old American is an improving player on the Tour and reached a new career high World Ranking at the end of last month.

A tough three set win in the First Round will have given Ashlyn Krueger a boost and she has reached the Quarter Final in both Brisbane and Adelaide before losing early at the Australian Open. The draw was a tough one in Melbourne against Ajla Tomljanovic who had the fans behind her, and the next step for Ashlyn Krueger in her development is to find more successes when facing the better players on the Tour.

Over the last twelve months, the American has an 8-12 record on the hard courts when facing top 50 Ranked opponents, and the key will be improving the returning aspect of her tennis in those matches.

She will feel she can get her teeth into the Daria Kasatkina service games, but this is a test for Ashlyn Krueger having lost to this opponent in the Second Round in Abu Dhabi last year. In that match it was Daria Kasatkina who took her chances when the Break Points were earned and her hard court performances over the last month do give the higher Ranked player an edge.

Wins over Marta Kostyuk and Paula Badosa last month in Adelaide means Krueger deserves to be given a lot of respect and especially having had a win under her belt here in Abu Dhabi.

However, Daria Kasatkina may still have an edge on the hard courts between these players and the World Number 11 can win this Second Round match and put the controversy from earlier in the week behind her.

Jiri Lehecka-Hubert Hurkacz over 23.5 games: A serious injury hampered Hubert Hurkacz through the second half of the 2024 season, even if he was somehow able to play through the pain.

He did reach the Quarter Final in Cincinnati, but Hubert Hurkacz played just five more matches in 2024 and the off-season was important for the World Number 21. Some solid performances were produced at the United Cup, but Hubert Hurkacz will be disappointed with the lack of an impact at the Australian Open before the First Round win here in Rotterdam.

This is going to be a very tough match for Hubert Hurkacz against an opponent who is close to cracking the top 20 in the World Rankings for the first time.

Last month Jiri Lehecka was able to win a title in Brisbane and he reached the Fourth Round at the Australian Open before being beaten by Novak Djokovic in a more competitive match than the straight sets defeat would have suggested. The current World Number 24 was an impressive opening winner in Rotterdam and Jiri Lehecka has really been making the best use out of his serve.

It has led to 92% of his service games being held and Jiri Lehecka will feel he can certainly keep on top of the Hubert Hurkacz return, which has been something of a weakness for the Polish player.

The 4-4 record on the hard courts is one thing, but Hubert Hurkacz has only broken in 13% of return games played and that number is not going to be offering much encouragement against the serve he is facing in the Second Round on an indoor hard court.

This may mean there is some pressure on Hubert Hurkacz to serve well, although he has shown himself to be a player that can do that with 90% of service games held on this surface over the last month.

Jiri Lehecka and Hubert Hurkacz met here in Rotterdam twelve months ago and there was just a single break of serve in a three set match with both dominant behind that shot. More of the same can be expected when they meet again in the Second Round in 2025 and there is every chance that both of the opening two sets may need tie-breakers to separate the two.

Any need for a third set should see the total games line comfortably surpassed, but the serving power of Lehecka and Hurkacz could see this inflated line beaten even in a straight sets win for either player.

MY PICKS: Daria Kasatkina - 2.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (1 Unit)

Jiri Lehecka-Hubert Hurkacz Over 23.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Fred (1 Unit)

Weekly Update: 1-0, + 0.83 Units (1 Unit Staked, + 83% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2024 (Saturday 10th February)

Another week on the Tour is coming to an end with the six tournaments being played all crowning Champions at the end of the weekend.

The Tour is making its way through the Middle East with a number of stops and that does mean some of the tournaments of next week are beginning on Sunday. The WTA Doha event is the first 1000 event on that Tour, while the ATP Tour has an event in Rotterdam which is the first 500 event of the season, although that will begin on Monday.

What it does mean is that some of the top players on the Tour should be in action and that is underlined in Doha where eighteen of the top 20 WTA players are scheduled to play.

Only Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula are going to miss out, but it is a deep tournament beginning on Sunday.

The hope is that there will be a decent foundation on which to build this month when the tournaments of this week come to a conclusion.

It has been a mixed week for the Tennis Picks through to this point, but the hope is a decent end can be produced to end with a positive number as we look to begin the slow ascent out of the Australian Open hole.

Beatriz Haddad Maia - 1.5 games v Daria Kasatkina: The long Second Round match did not have any impact on Beatriz Haddad Maia in her Quarter Final win over Ons Jabeur.

She was helped by an out of sorts opponent, but Beatriz Haddad Maia will be heading into this Semi Final with plenty of confidence.

A match against Daria Kasatkina will always be challenging considering the amount of balls that the World Number 14 will get back into play. However, it has been an extremely mixed start to the season for Kasatkina, even if her best win and performance was in the Quarter Final on Friday when she crushed Sorana Cirstea for the loss of just two games.

Daria Kasatkina has to expect a lot more resistance in this match and she has lost both previous matches against Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Both were on the hard courts in 2023 and all four sets were won by the Brazilian, which will give Haddad Maia a considerable mental edge.

This should be close, but you have to give Beatriz Haddad Maia the edge with her power and serve likely to be key on the faster surfaces.

Daria Kasatkina will have to serve well to keep herself from being put under pressure, but too many second serves will end up being attacked and Beatriz Haddad Maia should have enough to reach the Final in Abu Dhabi.

Grigor Dimitrov - 2.5 games v Karen Khachanov: The disappointing defeat at the Australian Open is the only negative on the Grigor Dimitrov resume in the early part of the 2024 season.

He has won a hard court title and Grigor Dimitrov will feel he should have won his match at the Australian Open when going down to Nuno Borges in an upset.

We have not seen Dimitrov since that defeat, but he has returned in Marseille and has won two matches in strong fashion which will give him confidence. He will know that he needs to serve well to win this Semi Final against Karen Khachanov, especially if the World Number 18 continues to serve as well as he has been in his own two victories at this event.

Both players will feel there is an area of improvement that can be made when it comes to the return of serve, but Dimitrov has the edge in that department.

Wins in all three previous professional matches against Karen Khachanov will certainly help Grigor Dimitrov believe he has the tennis to win this Semi Final. The last of those wins was in Shanghai and Grigor Dimitrov has won six of the seven sets played against the Russian.

In those previous matches, Grigor Dimitrov has a massive edge on the service numbers and he can get the better of Karen Khachanov in this good looking Semi Final in Marseille.

Karolina Pliskova - 3.5 games v Harriet Dart: After coming through the Qualifiers and making a run into the Semi Final in Cluj, Harriet Dart will be back inside the top 100 of the World Rankings when the new list is released on Monday.

This is a positive for a player who has not really pushed on as far as she would have liked, although earning a spot in the Final will be a big challenge for Harriet Dart.

She has taken advantage of what has been a kind draw and only one of the wins has been earned against someone Ranked inside the top 100. That win was against someone Ranked higher than Karolina Pliskova right now, although the Czech player may feel she is on the road back to a more natural place in the World Rankings.

Winning the tournament would see Karolina Pliskova head back towards the top 50 of the World Rankings as injury and a loss of form has seen the World Ranking slump.

Karolina Pliskova has dominated her last two opponents after a tougher than expected First Round win and the confidence has to have grown.

The serve has always been a big weapon for Pliskova and it looks to be working this week, which will give her a chance to contain the threat Harriet Dart brings to the court.

It has been the key difference in their previous two meetings on the Tour, including last year in the Middle East, and the expectation is that Karolina Pliskova will be able to show the tennis that took her to World Number 1 in getting past her British opponent.

Sebastian Baez - 2.5 games v Luciano Darderi: These two players met in the Second Round in Cordoba twelve months ago and both players have improved their World Rankings since that match.

Sebastian Baez is still Ranked considerably higher than Luciano Darderi as they prepare to face off for a spot in the Final, but the home favourite will have plenty of respect for a Qualifier who has won a lot of matches to get to this stage of the tournament.

Being the defending Champion and having won two matches here will show that Sebastian Baez is very comfortable in his surroundings.

However, he will have to respect Luciano Darderi who has beaten consecutive top 60 Ranked opponents without dropping a set. Both Sebastian Ofner and Yannick Hanfmann are not Ranked as high as Baez, but they are solid wins for the 21 year old Italian who is edging closer to a first appearance in the top 100 of the World Rankings.

Like many from his home nation, Darderi is a comfortable clay court player and he has been playing at a really high level this week. It makes him dangerous, but Sebastian Baez is no slouch on the red dirt and he was a straight-forward winner when these two players met last year.

This match should be closer, but Sebastian Baez can still earn a win and a cover.

MY PICKS: Beatriz Haddad Maia - 1.5 Games @ 1.90 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Grigor Dimitrov - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)

Karolina Pliskova - 3.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)

Sebastian Baez - 2.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 7-6, - 0.76 Units (26 Units Staked, - 2.92% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2024 (Friday 9th February)

The tennis week has been a mixed one, but there is still an opportunity to finish off with a strong run.

That has to be the aim when the Quarter Finals are played on Friday at the six tournaments being played on both the ATP and WTA Tour.

While it has been a winning week so far, it has not quite been as strong as I would have liked and so there is work to do over this weekend.

Ons Jabeur - 2.5 games v Beatriz Haddad Maia: Winning big matches against Ons Jabeur is never going to be easy for players on the Tour, but the confidence will be behind Beatriz Haddad Maia who did just that at the French Open last year.

The Quarter Final win was the first time the Brazilian had beaten Ons Jabeur and she has played a lot more tennis than the latter this season.

It should mean Beatriz Haddad Maia is in confident mood, even if her Second Round match took almost four hours to be completed. She ultimately rolled through the final set, but there was plenty of emotional and physical energy invested into the win over Magda Linette and Haddad Maia will be hoping she has recovered.

Beatriz Haddad Maia has shown she can find the energy needed even after putting in such a strong effort, but Ons Jabeur was an impressive Second Round winner and looked to be in decent form.

Motivation should be easy to find during this swing through the Middle East and Ons Jabeur will feel she should have beaten Haddad Maia in that Quarter Final loss at the French Open. Winning a Grand Slam is the biggest ambition for Jabeur this season, but she should have enough focus to wear down an opponent that has to have some fatigue issues.

Serving well and getting plenty of first serves in play will be key for the World Number 6 and doing that should help her cover this spread.

Tommy Paul - 2.5 games v Dominik Koepfer: There has been a tournament being played on the hard courts in Dallas and in general the early Rounds have offered unappealing angles.

The Quarter Finals should change that and Tommy Paul has the qualities to get the better of Dominik Koepfer, who has benefited from fine margins landing his way.

No one should dismiss the chances of the German who has won a Challenger title on the hard courts last month and, ultimately, has won two matches to progress through the Dallas Open into this Quarter Final match.

However, Koepfer has lost his last five matches against top 50 Ranked opponents on the hard courts and his numbers over the last twelve months when coming up against some of the best players on the Tour have been disappointing. The lefty serve can be a strength, but Dominik Koepfer has overachieved this week and a player like Tommy Paul should be capable of breaking down that part of his game.

It should mean pressure on the Koepfer return, but he has broken in just 12% of return games played on the hard courts when facing up to top 50 Ranked opponents.

Ben Shelton - 2.5 games v Jordan Thompson: At his best, Jordan Thompson has a serve that can be very dangerous and that allows the Australian to allow scoreboard pressure to build up on his opponents.

He pushed Stefanos Tsitsipas to four sets at the Australian Open, while Jordan Thompson made some headlines by beating Rafael Nadal on his way to the Semi Final in Brisbane.

You have to respect that and his two wins at the Dallas Open will only have increased the confidence, even if those have come against the World Number 829 and 174.

There is a big step up to facing Ben Shelton, who has had a relatively disappointing opening six weeks of the 2024 season.

That is largely compared to the kind of start Shelton would have expected from himself, but he was a clear winner in the Second Round and being back on home soil will certainly inspire the American. Ben Shelton has a massive serve, but he has also found a bit more out of his return game early in the season and that will be encouraging for him.

In two previous matches against Jordan Thompson, Ben Shelton has had a clear edge with holds in 89% of his service games played compared with the Australian's 76% mark. Ben Shelton did have to fight back from dropping the first set when these two met in Tokyo at the end of October, but he was clearly the stronger player on the day and created 11 Break Points compared with just 2 for Jordan Thompson and the home fans can drive Shelton forward for a strong win.

Frances Tiafoe - 1.5 games v Marcos Giron: There was a push into the top 10 of the World Rankings for the first time in June 2023, but it has been a difficult twelve months for Frances Tiafoe.

He looked to have finally figured out how to manage the consistency needed on the Tour, but some of those efforts look to have been forgotten and the World Number 14 has just slipped.

The numbers had improved, but those have not hit the levels of twelve months ago and it has been a disappointing start to 2024.

A win over Alex Michelsen looks solid, but backing that up is the key for Tiafoe when taking on compatriot Marcos Giron.

He was another who made a slow start to 2024, but two strong wins in Dallas will make Marcos Giron feel much better about his tennis. This is another step up in terms of level of opponent, but Giron has to believe he can at least try and exert some pressure with his serve.

Marcos Giron has just gotten a bit more out of his return game too compared with Frances Tiafoe and that may be key, although the latter has the mental edge having won the last three pro meetings between these two Americans.

The win at the US Open in 2022 was a competitive one for Frances Tiafoe, but he did crush Marcos Giron at Indian Wells last year. That will help a player who is perhaps not feeling at his very best and Tiafoe can find a way to win and cover on his way to a Semi Final appearance.

MY PICKS: Ons Jabeur - 2.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Tommy Paul - 2.5 Games @ 1.66 Bet365 (2 Units)

Ben Shelton - 2.5 Games @ 1.91 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Frances Tiafoe - 1.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 5-4, + 0.10 Units (18 Units Staked, + 1% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2024 (Thursday 8th February)

A mixed bag of results on Wednesday were a touch frustrating considering the amount of opportunities that were missed by the final selection of the day.

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)

Tennis Picks 2023 (February 10th)

The positive results largely continued on Thursday, although I am disappointed that Beatriz Haddad Maia could not have served out her match on two occasions in the second set.

That meant a 2-1 day for the Tennis Picks rather than the sweep, but I was perhaps fortunate to get away with the Daria Kasatkina selection and so just pleased to come away with a positive return.

I have only one Pick from Friday and that comes from the last of the Abu Dhabi Quarter Final matches scheduled to be played.

Veronika Kudermetova - 1.5 games v Liudmila Samsonova: We are down to the last eight in the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi and six of the players remaining in the draw are going to be inside the top 20 of the World Rankings when the new list is released next Monday.

Both Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova are either going to be at career best World Rankings or close to career best World Rankings with a strong end to the event in Abu Dhabi and that brings plenty of motivation to the court. I expect both players to also look ahead and feel they can have a real impact at Grand Slam level, even if both Veronika Kudermertova and Liudmila Samsonova had disappointing Second Round exits at the Australian Open.

Veronika Kudermetova is a top four Seed in Abu Dhabi and that meant she earned a Bye into the Second Round where she was a strong winner over Elise Mertens. Things have been tougher for Liudmila Samsonova who has had to win two matches this week, while the lower Ranked Russian player needed almost two and a half hours to beat Barbora Krejcikova in the Second Round on Thursday.

Winning in straight sets is a bonus, and it feels like Liudmila Samsonova has the stronger first serve of these two players. However, I have to give an edge to Veronika Kudermetova when it comes to protecting the second serve and she has shown a little more authority on the return on the hard courts, which could prove to be a key to the outcome of this Quarter Final.

I have to give a lot of credit to Liudmila Samsonova and the form she has shown when facing top 20 Ranked opponents on the hard courts over the last twelve months and she does hold a 4-1 record in those matches in that time span. That clearly underlines the progress that has been made by Samsonova to reach a career best World Ranking, but Veronika Kudermetova has shown she has plenty of toughness when facing the best players on the Tour on this surface.

Veronika Kudermetova has also won the last two matches against Liudmila Samsonova, including a victory in their sole hard court match back in 2021 at Indian Wells. That slight mental edge could prove to be decisive when it comes to the critical moments in this set and I think Kudermetova can find a way to edge past her compatriot and reach the Semi Final here with a cover of the mark.

MY PICKS: Veronika Kudermetova - 1.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 5-3, + 2.26 Units (16 Units Staked, + 14.13% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2023 (February 9th)

It was a shame that Anett Kontaveit was not able to finish her match against Shelby Rogers when it looked like the Tennis Picks were going to have a clean sweep of winners on Wednesday.

The tournament in Abu Dhabi is where the focus will be again for the Picks as the Second Round is completed in the sole 500 event of the week.

Now the numbers are in a positive place for the week, I am looking for a strong final four days in a bid to keep the winning momentum going.

Beatriz Haddad Maia - 2.5 games v Yulia Putintseva: The top of the WTA Tour is open enough for a number of players to really believe they can win a Grand Slam title in the coming years.

Without a dominant Champion, anyone playing on the Tour can get hot enough over a two week spell and run through a draw and there have been a number of surprising Champions crowned in recent years. Having that in mind, there is little doubt that Beatriz Haddad Maia will have been massively disappointed with her First Round upset loss at the Australian Open and especially when you consider the improvements the Brazilian has made on the Tour over the last eighteen months.

She did need three sets to win her First Round match in Abu Dhabi, but Beatriz Haddad Maia will feel better for the victory having lost her last two matches on the Tour. The lefty had a decent January before the loss in Melbourne and her game continues to operate effectively on the hard courts.

My numbers had her down as a stronger favourite than the layers when she is set to meet Yulia Putintseva in the Second Round on Thursday, although I have a healthy respect for the capabilities of the lower Ranked player. While not being in possession of any great shot, Putintseva can get around the court and test players and their ability to find the big shots consistently, while the return is a strength of her tennis.

It needs to be with a vulnerable serve and Yulia Putintseva deserves more respect having won three matches in Abu Dhabi having fought through the Qualifiers. The win over Bianca Andreescu in the First Round is a good one, but it has been tougher going in the early part of 2023 when Yulia Putintseva has been pitting against top 100 Ranked opponents.

Yulia Putintseva has suffered particular hardship when facing top 20 Ranked opponents on the hard courts over the last twelve months and she has found her second serve and return game has not been able to stand up against the best players on the Tour. The Kazakhstani player has lost two matches to those top 20 players just last month and both were in pretty routine fashion.

Beatriz Haddad Maia can serve effectively with the lefty side making things tougher for the return player and I do think she will be able to get on top of enough return games to win this match and cover the handicap line set.

Elena Rybakina - 3.5 games v Karolina Pliskova: It will be interesting to see how Elena Rybakina handles the disappointment of coming within one match of becoming a multiple time Grand Slam Champion. At least the Kazakhstan Number 1 has earned her rightful place within the top 10 of the World Rankings and Elena Rybakina would be considerably higher if her Wimbledon Ranking points had not been scrapped by the WTA Tour.

She makes her return in Abu Dhabi where some of the top players on the Tour have come together to try and win a big title in what is a couple of big months of hard court tennis. The performance in Melbourne shows that Elena Rybakina is a threat at every Grand Slam that will be played, even on the clay courts where some would feel her power is perhaps not as effective as on the faster surfaces.

Elena Rybakina has shown she is a player that can deal with the moment effectively and I do think the time off would have done her good.

However, she will also be under a different pressure which comes with the increased expectations that her run in Melbourne would have generated. Despite being the Wimbledon Champion, Rybakina has not been under the same spotlight as she may experience now and the first match following the Australian Open is not an easy one.

Karolina Pliskova did not have the best 2022 with injury and inconsistent form and her own hopes of winning a Grand Slam title may have faded, but the Czech player did reach the Australian Open Quarter Final last month. A strong win in the First Round in Abu Dhabi shows she has turned the page from Melbourne and Karolina Pliskova has plenty of power and a solid serve that can put opponents under pressure.

A problem has been trying to get more out of her return and I do think that is where Elena Rybakina will hold a significant edge over Karolina Pliskova in this big Second Round match.

My feeling is that Karolina Pliskova is not the force she once was and it is hard to ignore the fact that she has lost her last four hard court matches against top 20 Ranked opponents. Those four losses have all been in relatively straight-forward manner, including both played last month when Karolina Pliskova really struggled on the serve and only managed to win 36% of return points played.

I think that could show up in this Second Round match once Elena Rybakina gets herself comfortable on the court- the first set should be competitive, but the Wimbledon Champion has the capability to build pressure with her own serve and aggressive returns can pay off the longer the match goes.

It was the case when these two met in October on the hard courts of Guadalajara as Elena Rybakina used a first set tie-breaker win to move through the second set relatively comfortably. She won 41% of return points played compared with Karolina Pliskova's 32% mark on that day and I will look for the top ten Ranked player to come through with a good win in this Second Round match in Abu Dhabi.

MY PICKS: Beatriz Haddad Maia - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)

Elena Rybakina - 3.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Daria Kasatkina - 3.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 3-2, + 0.70 Units (10 Units Staked, + 7% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2023 (February 8th)

This has been a week in which I have largely been keeping an eye out on the opening matches at the five tournaments being played and that is because there have not been a lot of options that have hit my criteria to be down as a Tennis Pick.

Some quality players are looking to build some Ranking points, but the lines have been pretty tight, while the majority of the First Round and Second Round matches that have been played have been tough for me to get a really good read on.

The biggest event of the week is the WTA tournament in Abu Dhabi, where a number of top 20 Ranked players are playing, and that is where the focus for the Tennis Picks are for Wednesday.

Belinda Bencic - 3.5 games v Marta Kostyuk: Being inside the top ten of the World Rankings is clearly a positive for any player, but Belinda Bencic must feel her chances of winning a first Grand Slam are getting longer and longer in each passing season. She opened 2023 in pretty strong form with a defeat to Iga Swiatek the only one before the Australian Open, but the Swiss Miss was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka in Melbourne and her wait for a Slam goes on.

A glass half full kind of character would at least point out that the two defeats suffered by Belinda Bencic this season have both come against top quality opponents. And Sabalenka going on to win the Australian Open might suggest that Belinda Bencic is not that far away when it comes to winning a Grand Slam in what is a very open WTA Tour.

Belinda Bencic has shown she has an all-court game with some decent clay court results and she will look at February and March as an opportunity to build some momentum before the run towards the French Open begins. Winning a title in Abu Dhabi at a WTA 500 level will be a real boost for the overall confidence and I do think Bencic is rightly put down as the favourite to win this week.

However, she cannot expect players to roll over for her and this is the first match that Belinda Bencic will have played since her disappointing exit at the Australian Open. On the other hand, Marta Kostyuk reached the Quarter Final in Hua Hin last week and has already won a First Round match here in Abu Dhabi while Bencic was receiving a Bye into the Second Round.

The young Ukrainian has perhaps been at the forefront of other tennis discussions rather than those focused on her actual play, but that leadership quality will help Marta Kostyuk in the future. She has long been seen as a potential Grand Slam Champion and the 20 year old has shown the kind of level she can produce when she is at her best.

Consistency is going to be the key and Marta Kostyuk has yet to find that as often as she would like- her numbers have been decent on the hard courts since the start of the 2023 season, but five of her nine wins have been against players Ranked outside the top 100 and the 4-4 record against the stronger players on the Tour is less encouraging.

The returning numbers have not been good enough as far as Kostyuk is concerned, while she has a 0-5 record against top 20 Ranked opponents on the hard courts over the last twelve months. In that time Marta Kostyuk has won a single set, and her second serve has been a considerable weakness in those matches, which is an area that Belinda Bencic will look to exploit.

Belinda Bencic serves well to put the pressure on her opponents, but there is room for improvement when it comes to the points won against serve. However, there has been a big leap from her overall returning numbers to when Bencic faces players Ranked outside the top 50 on the hard courts over the last twelve months and I do think she can beat Marta Kostyuk as she did in Miami last year.

This one is not likely to be as comfortable as it was in that Masters event, but Belinda Bencic can win and cover this handicap mark.

Jannik Sinner - 4.5 games v Marton Fucsovics: After their meeting at the Australian Open, Jannik Sinner will be looking to make a much faster start than he did in Melbourne when he found himself 0-2 down in sets to Marton Fucsovics.

They were two close sets and Sinner should have won at least one of those, but he managed to take full control of the match over the remaining three sets and only dropped three more games.

Marton Fucsovics has been on the path back from injury, but there is still work to do as he has dropped back to World Number 69 and the Hungarian was well beaten twice in Davis Cup action this past weekend. He did win a First Round match here and Jannik Sinner has not played since losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Fourth Round at the Australian Open, but it may still not be enough reason to believe Fucsovics can make this a closer match than it ended up being in Melbourne.

My biggest concern with backing Jannik Sinner to cover this kind of line is that he has not always been able to look after his serve as he would like- he has held 83% of hard court service games played in 2023 and Sinner was broken five times by Marton Fucsovics when they met last month. However, the Italian did show some positive improvement in the return part of his tennis over the first month of the season and this Fucsovics serve is still one that is vulnerable as he looks to get back up to full speed.

Over the last twelve months Marton Fucsovics has only held 76% of service games played on the hard courts against top 100 Ranked opponents.

That number has dipped to 62% in the first month of this season against such opponents and I think Sinner can do enough to cover here.

MY PICKS: Belinda Bencic - 3.5 Games @ 1.75 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Veronika Kudermetova - 2.5 Games @ 1.85 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Shelby Rogers @ 2.00 Bet365 (2 Units)

Jannik Sinner - 4.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 1-2, - 2.50 Units (6 Units Staked, - 41.67% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2023 (February 7th)

I was hoping to have a longer thread for the second day of the week and the tournaments being played, but time has not been on my side on Monday.

Any Picks from the tournaments in Cordoba and Dallas will be added to this thread, but the main selections are from the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi where the First Round will be completed.

MY PICKS: Qinwen Zheng - 3.5 Games @ 1.75 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Leylah Fernandez - 2.5 Games @ 1.91 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Karolina Pliskova - 3.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet365 (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 0-1, - 2 Units (2 Units Staked, - 100% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2021 (January 6th)

What a difference a year makes.

This time last year it was full steam ahead to the first Grand Slam of the 2020 Tennis season, but that was before the scale of the impending pandemic was really clear to see. Back then many must have felt Covid-19 was going to go the same way as some of the other viruses that have popped over the last twenty years in not being able to spread in the manner it has and Tennis, like many other sports, was severely pushed to the limit.

Unlike some other sports, this really is a global one and the manner of the Tour meant in an inevitable suspension and then a host of tournaments looking to try and fill the gaps that were left on the calendar. Wimbledon was the sole Grand Slam that was not played, but the US Open and French Open being played within a month of one another was strange to see as well as the fact that the latter was played at a time of the year when conditions are vastly different to the usual May/June spot on the calendar.

Everyone's life is still being affected by the pandemic and the Tennis Tour is no different going into 2021 which has seen both the ATP and WTA Tour having to make big changes to the schedule. Usually January is a busy month leading into the Australian Open, but that tournament has been pushed back to early February and quarantine requirements in Australia means the vast majority of events have been cancelled this month.

This week we have a big WTA tournament in Abu Dhabi and the ATP Tour have put a one-off tournament in Antalya and moved Delray Beach forward for players to take part. The big names are largely missing as they prepare to travel to Australia where we are going to get a couple of tournaments in Melbourne and the ATP Cup before the Australian Open is due to begin on February 8th.

Both Tours have set out how they are going to schedule events through to the clay court season in early April, but at this stage there is no guarantee to know how anything will shake up in the weeks and months ahead.

There is a hope the Grand Slams will all be played in their traditional spots outside of the Australian Open, but I think the situation is going to be a fluid one for all the organisers to deal with.

The Tennis Picks were obviously not as common in 2020 as they had been previously and that was largely down to the uncertainty that was created by the Covid-19 outbreak. I actually went to the Dubai Final last year, but I would have been stunned if anyone was to have told me that would be the last Tennis match for months on end.

It was a difficult year for the Tennis Picks having had a number of winning seasons and I do think this will be a relatively slow month for selections despite the strong tournament being run by the WTA in Abu Dhabi. After that we have some time before the first of the Melbourne events take place and then the focus will quickly shift to the Australian Open when I will be expecting to have daily Picks.

While the men's tournaments are still expected to be dominated by the Big Three, the likes of Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev may consider themselves genuine Grand Slam challengers. The Austrian won his first Slam at the US Open and was a Finalist at the Australian Open and I think he can push the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, although I expect both of those to be favourites in all of the Grand Slams barring injury.

The WTA Tour has long been very competitive and I am still quite convinced that Serena Williams may have missed her best chance to overtake Margaret Court in number of Singles Slams won- she may still have one more big effort in her, but Williams has lost her aura and there are some very good players on the Tour who can beat her on any given day, but consistency is lacking which means we could get a number of different Slam Champions yet again.

Talented youngsters will be looking to make a mark alongside some veterans who will feel they can add to the Grand Slams won, while Naomi Osaka is a three time Slam Champion that can only keep improving at 23 years old.

I am looking forward to what should be a stronger year back on the Tour for the Tennis players with positive news about a vaccine for Covid-19 that likely will begin to heal the world, albeit slowly.

I do think the next couple of months will be very difficult for the players, but it is something they will have begun to understand and plan for better than they could have done back in March when the Tour was suspended. They will still have to face a difficult two week quarantine when arriving in Australia and I am not sure what the conditions will be for the players when they are leaving Melbourne and heading off to other tournaments which have been scheduled to be played later in February and early March.

These are ever changing factors at the moment and something that will only be revealed closer to the time of those events once we have an idea as to the direction this pandemic is going to be taking around the world.

The First Round matches are beginning in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and my opening two selections of the 2021 season are below.

MY PICKS: Anett Kontaveit - 2.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Laura Siegemund - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)