Tennis Recap July 9-15

It wasn't a great week on the circuit for me, but more of that below.

It is unusual for the calender to be so busy in the week following a Grand Slam event, but the Olympic Games means a slight shift in emphasis this season and that has meant a number of tournaments are getting their events through before the players head to North America for the hard court season and preparation for the US Open.

Four years ago, the Olympics actually took place after the two Masters events in Cincinnati and Canada, but this year they are fitted in ahead of the two big tournaments and thus giving the players a little more normality in their play. The biggest issue is going to be the lack of time between the Olympic tournament and the Toronto Masters starting and the change from grass to hard courts in the space of a few days could see a lot more surprising results early in that tournament.

Anyway, here are a couple of things that have popped up from the events taking place this week.


Laura Robson's first Semi Final appearance: It was a slightly disappointing end to the tournament in Palermo for Laura Robson as she made too many errors in the loss, but the run to the Semi Final on a clay court does bode well for her development as far as I am concerned.


The only real fear for her at the moment is that she won't develop the tactical side of her game to go with all the power she has. That may make her a player like, for example, Lucie Safarova that is capable of blowing past some top players when everything is working for her, but too often fails to keep things going consistently enough to beat the rest regularly.


Now that is not to say that Safarova hasn't done well in her career already, but sometimes you have to look to achieve more especially with the talent that Robson does possess.


I am still sure that Robson is going to be the most successful British Female player for over twenty years, but I really hope the LTA and her coaches don't ruin what could be a real diamond.




Big week for Lleyton Hewitt, but the exception rather than the norm these days: Lleyton Hewitt is an under-rated player as far as I am concerned, with a lot of people likely to look back at his career and feel he won his Grand Slam titles in a small period where Pete Sampras was no longer the force of old and Roger Federer was yet to make his breakthrough on the Main Tour.


He was a real fighter back in his prime and could give a lot of players a lot of problems with his ability to turn defence into attack within a couple of shots. However, those days are long gone and I think we may look back at Newport as being a tournament where Hewitt put things together for a short while before blending into fields.


The tournament here was not exactly loaded with top-level talent either, especially the half in which Hewitt was placed, but I think it says a lot that he was still 40-1 to win the event... To me, that shows how far he is from his best.


The problem for Hewitt is that he seems to have lost a step on the court so no longer can play defence as he used to and he doesn't have the big shots to prevent falling into long rallies.


I am not sure how long the Australian has left on the circuit these days, but it was nice to see him have at least one more successful week.




Daily Picks Final: 3-8, - 6.08 Units (18 Units Staked)


Outright Picks Final: + 0.50 Units (3 Units Staked)


Week Final: - 5.58 Units (21 Units Staked)


Season 2012: + 67.54 Units (630 Units Staked, 10.7% Yield)


Season 2011: + 82.02 Units

Tennis Picks July 21st ATP Atlanta

It was another good day at Hamburg for the picks and all 3 came in during the afternoon session. That makes the picks 6 for 6 in the last 2 days at the German tournament, while the Atlanta picks have been bringing in a profit themselves.

John Isner won his match last night but he looked a little shaky and I am much happier being on Mardy Fish outright. In saying that, Fish faces arguably his biggest test before the Final when he meets Nicolas Mahut in the evening session. Lleyton Hewitt is still a danger, but I would expect Fish to deal with the veteran Australian too if they do meet later on in the week.


Now on to the Picks:


Xavier Malisse vs Ryan Harrison: I was going to give this match a miss at the start of the week, but the odds on Xavier Malisse have reached levels where they make an interest for me.

Ryan Harrison is the big hope of American tennis but he is still young and learning his craft. I have to say I have been very impressed with his tenacity, as shown in defeats to David Ferrer at Wimbledon and even in the manner of his defeat to Robin Soderling at the French Open.

He had a very good run at Indian Wells when reaching the 4th Round before falling to Roger Federer, but overall has not quite lived up to the expectation when playing on the main tour.

And he is not playing a nobody- Xavier Malisse is a solid pro who is very accustomed to playing on the faster surfaces. He had a strong American hard court Summer last year, reaching the Quarter Finals here in Atlanta and also the Semi Final in Washington.

I expected Malisse to go off at around 1.5, so the offer at Pinnacle looks too good to ignore.


Lleyton Hewitt - 4.5 games vs Rajeev Ram: A few years ago, I would have had full faith in Lleyton Hewitt to negate the big serving opponent and grind out a break in each set to win this match. However, injuries have taken their toll on the Aussie and he finds it a bit harder to play his game and has to give up on more points than he used to.

In saying that, I still expect him to expose this limited opponent today. Hewitt has not had a lot of tennis in the last few months, but there was plenty to like about his performance when losing to Robin Soderling at Wimbledon and he has always liked the American hard court swing.

Rajeev Ram was a surprise victor in the 1st Round over Grigor Dimitrov after qualifying for this event, but it was only last week that he was beaten handily by Dudi Sela in a Challenger event and I cant help but think Hewitt is a level above him even at this stage of his career.

Last season, Ram was beaten fairly easily by Andy Roddick in the 2nd Round and I think Hewitt can also progress here with a break in each set to cover the spread. I will be looking at a 6-4, 6-3 scoreline for Hewitt.


MY PICKS: Xavier Malisse @ 1.70 Pinnacle (3 Units)
Lleyton Hewitt - 4.5 games @ 2.25 10Bet (2 Units)


WEEKLY UPDATE: + 14.88 Units (Includes all pick results from July 21st at Hamburg)