Paris Olympics Tennis Day 9 Pick 2024 (Sunday 4th August)

So it was Qinwen Zheng who picked up the Gold Medal with a relatively routine win over Donna Vekic and it will be interesting to see how her career develops from here.

A Runner Up at the Australian Open, it has not been the best few months for Zheng but the victory in Paris, which includes the upset of Iga Swiatek, will certainly have her feeling very positive about her game.

However, like many of the recent Grand Slam events, expect to see a lot of surprising results throughout the US Open when that tournament begins later this month and negotiating the draw will be a tough task for every player in the event.

Before attention fully turns to the hard court season, the men's Gold Medal match is set to be played on Sunday and it is between two players who will be favourites to win the next Grand Slam.

There is a feeling this could be a real changing of the guard moment in the sport, but Novak Djokovic will have a lot to say about that as the Paris Olympics are concluded for the tennis players who have been taking part.

Carlos Alcaraz - 3.5 games v Novak Djokovic: No one can forget the way Carlos Alcaraz cramped up after taking the second set against Novak Djokovic in the French Open Semi Final in 2023- all of the momentum was with him at that time, but the young Spaniard was perhaps a bit too inexperienced and amped up in facing arguably the best player of all time and feeling like he was going to be in a position to win that match.

The character of Carlos Alcaraz cannot be questioned though and a month later he was beating Novak Djokovic in the Final at Wimbledon in a five set classic.

However, Novak Djokovic has not won 24 Grand Slam titles for no reason and got the better of Carlos Alcaraz in the next two meetings in 2023.

Things seem to have swung back in favour of Alcaraz though and the dismantling straight sets win over Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon Final last month makes the Spaniard the favourite to win the Gold Medal. He added the Wimbledon title to a maiden French Open title won in June and Carlos Alcaraz has to be considered the player to beat at the US Open which begins later this month.

He crushed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Semi Final and there remain some doubts about the Novak Djokovic knee, which forced the former World Number 1 to change his tactics and approach to a match with Alcaraz in the Wimbledon Final. Shortening the points, or at least trying to shorten the points, is still possible on a grass court, but that is much more difficult on the clay and Carlos Alcaraz will certainly feel he can outlast Djokovic if the knee is still causing problems.

Novak Djokovic is definitely feeling some kind of impact on his service performance with this lingering issue and that is a concern when facing someone like Carlos Alcaraz who will look to put the pressure on immediately. The Serb was broken five times by Alcaraz in the Wimbledon Final, while Djokovic has dropped serve at least twice in three of his last four matches in this tournament.

Both Stefanos Tsitsipas and Lorenzo Musetti will know they missed opportunities to really put Novak Djokovic under pressure, but Carlos Alcaraz may have a different mindset compared with those players. Unlike them, Alcaraz knows he has beaten Novak Djokovic on the biggest stages and the defending French Open Champion is going to be tough to knock off here.

It certainly helps Carlos Alcaraz that he is making the most out of his serve, even on the clay, and that may keep Novak Djokovic under some pressure.

You can never rule out Novak Djokovic and the motivation is going to be at a super high level with this being his last chance to win Olympic Gold and effectively win everything you can on the tennis courts. It may even be argued that winning this Medal would have felt more important than winning an eighth Wimbledon title, but motivation alone is not going to get this done and it would be unwise to underestimate Carlos Alcaraz and his own ambitions considering what he has already achieved in his very young career.

That victory at Wimbledon last month will certainly help the mental edge lean towards Carlos Alcaraz and he can underline his place as the top men's player on the Tour by taking a third big title in succession with another strong victory over a perhaps less than 100% Novak Djokovic.

MY PICK: Carlos Alcaraz - 3.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Paris Olympics Update: 8-10, - 6.76 Units (36 Units Staked, - 18.78% Yield)

Paris Olympics Tennis Day 8 Picks 2024 (Saturday 3rd August)

The men's Gold Medal match is the one that the fans would have all hoped for at the Paris Olympic Games, but the Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz hype will just have to slow down for a while.

Iga Swiatek has won the Bronze Medal, but the women's Gold Medal match is set for Saturday and we are going to have another surprising winner regardless of the outcome. This has been a feature of women's tennis in recent years, while especially being the case at the recent Olympic Games, and the entire draw will feel there is an opportunity to win a big title when they head to New York City for the US Open.

Qinwen Zheng - 3.5 games v Donna Vekic: Winning a Grand Slam remains the ultimate prize for any player on the Tour, but the opportunity to win a Gold Medal is one that many would like to have.

It is Qinwen Zheng and Donna Vekic who have that chance on Saturday having made their way through the Paris Olympics draw and both have been playing with plenty of confidence over the last month.

Last month Donna Vekic reached the Semi Final at Wimbledon before losing a tough battle against Jasmine Paolini, but all credit has to be given to the Croatian for the performances so far this week. The clay courts are the weakest surface on which Vekic will perform and she had a losing record on the surface for the second season in a row prior to her run in Paris.

Donna Vekic did reach the Third Round at the French Open, but had only won one match in her three tournaments in Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome and she would have been a big price to reach the Gold Medal match at this event.

Qinwen Zheng also had a disappointing run at the French Open, but she won a clay court title in Palermo in July between Wimbledon and the Olympic Games. This means she has a 22-8 record on the clay over the last two seasons before arriving in Paris and winning five matches here, including the upset of Iga Swiatek in the Semi Final.

There have been some rough moments for both players- Zheng was very close to losing to Emma Navarro and Angelique Kerber, while Donna Vekic was incredibly fortunate to beat Marta Kostyuk in the Quarter Final. Those will not be a major concern going into the Gold Medal match, especially with a day of rest for the players between the Semi Final and this one.

Out of the two players, Qinwen Zheng has the clay court pedigree to take home the Gold Medal, while she also went one better than Donna Vekic as the Australian Open Finalist earlier this season before losing to Aryna Sabalenka. That should help in trying to handle the nerves and the pressure of the occasion, while the Zheng serve has perhaps been operating in a stronger fashion than the Croatian's.

This could make the difference in the Gold Medal match and Qinwen Zheng can back up the most recent meeting between the players which was won in three sets on a hard court in October 2023. On the clay, you would have to favour Qinwen Zheng a little bit more and she can find a way to win the match and cover this mark, especially with Donna Vekic perhaps not as accustomed to the conditions in the middle of the day as her opponent.

MY PICKS: Qinwen Zheng - 3.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Paris Olympics Update: 7-10, - 8.50 Units (34 Units Staked, - 25% Yield)

Paris Olympics Tennis Day 7 Picks 2024 (Friday 2nd August)

The biggest upset of the Paris Olympics as far as the tennis goes has occurred in the women's Semi Final with Iga Swiatek knocked into the Bronze Medal match instead of the Gold.

This is the first defeat the Pole has suffered on these grounds since 2021 and there would have been considerable disappointment that Swiatek has not been able to add the Gold Medal to the French Open titles she has collected in Paris.

Unlike the vast majority of tournaments that tennis players will play, the loss does not mean the end of the event for Iga Swiatek and the Bronze Medal match will be played on Friday. That means little time to get over the defeat, but she has had several more hours to prepare mentally and physically compared with Anna Schmiedlova who was beaten by Donna Vekic in the last Singles match to be played on Day 6.

The men's Semi Final matches are both scheduled for Friday too and there is still hope for the fans that we will get to see Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday. The two opponents facing these players will have something to say about that on Friday and both Lorenzo Musetti and Felix Auger-Aliassime will be playing with the confidence of a strong week behind them.

Once again, the losing players will be in action on Saturday when the Bronze Medal match is played, but the main focus for those men playing on Day 7 will be to earn the right to play for the Gold Medal.

Lorenzo Musetti + 3.5 games v Novak Djokovic: They played in the Wimbledon Semi Final and they also met at the French Open in the Third Round so there will be no issues about familiarity with the tennis expected to be seen by Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti.

It is Novak Djokovic who won the two Grand Slam matches, although Lorenzo Musetti was leading 2-1 in sets in Paris before falling away over the course of four and a half hours. The match was a close one and it is the second time that Musetti has led Novak Djokovic at the French Open by reaching two sets first, although he has not been able to get over the line.

The Semi Final at Wimbledon was a much more routine win for Novak Djokovic, but the clay courts should mean another very tough, competitive match between these players. Lorenzo Musetti played his part in that Semi Final in SW19, but he will feel these courts offer that much more and momentum is with the Italian.

He reached the Final in Umag last week and Lorenzo Musetti has played well in his four wins in this tournament, especially the manner in which he beat Alexander Zverev in the Quarter Final to end the German's hopes of winning consecutive Gold Medals.

While Lorenzo Musetti will expect to be tested by the Novak Djokovic return, he will also be well aware that he has been serving very well in this tournament. It has led to just five breaks of serve given away in four wins in Paris and it is very important for Musetti to make sure he serves well in this one to just stay with the former World Number 1.

Novak Djokovic had also been playing well in the tournament, but there has to be a concern that a prior knee injury has resurfaced having suffered the initial injury here at the French Open. He needed to have the knee checked against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Quarter Final and the Greek player may have missed a trick having led 4-0 in the second set, but somehow losing that 7-6 to fall to yet another defeat to Djokovic.

There is no doubt that the Serb has an aura on the court and that helped him come through a set in which he was second best for much of the time, and that may help him here. No matter how much Lorenzo Musetti has pushed Novak Djokovic, he has mainly ended up on the wrong side of the result and that has to be playing on the mind of the underdog.

However, the Italian should take confidence from the fact he has reached two sets before Novak Djokovic in each of their two previous matches on the Roland Garros grounds. Lorenzo Musetti has also previously beaten Novak Djokovic on a clay court and that will again give him some belief that Tsitsipas was perhaps lacking at the key moments in the Quarter Final.

The potential issue with the Djokovic knee cannot be ignored with little time to rest between the Quarter Final and Semi Final, and Lorenzo Musetti may make use of the games being given to him on the handicap.

MY PICKS: Lorenzo Musetti + 3.5 Games @ 1.95 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Olympic Games Update: 7-9, - 6.50 Units (32 Units Staked, - 20.31% Yield)

Paris Olympics Tennis Day 6 Picks 2024 (Thursday 1st August)

There may only be four players left in the women's draw as we enter Day 6 of the Olympic Games in Paris, but it still feels like a tough situation knowing only one will fail to win a Medal.

Would it be better to have two Bronze Medals for the two losing Semi Finalists? The competitor in me thinks not, but you have to sympathise with any player who reaches the last four and is not able to earn a Medal.

Ultimately winning Bronze is an achievement and not a consolation and so a big couple of days is coming up for the Singles players- the women's Gold Medal match is actually set to be played on Saturday so the two winning Semi Finalists will both finally have a day of rest between matches, but the second Semi Final losing player will not have a lot of time to prepare for the Bronze Medal match set for Friday.

The men's Gold Medal match will be played on Sunday, but the Quarter Finals are all to be played on Day 6 at the tournament before moving into the Semi Final matches on Friday and the Bronze Medal match on Saturday.

The women's event has produced a fair few more surprise results than the men's, but Iga Swiatek has come through a scare in the Quarter Final win over Danielle Collins. She remains a very strong favourite to win the Gold Medal on her favoured surface, while Anna Schmiedlova and Qinwen Zheng are definitely more surprising names for the last four.

We remain on a collision course to see Carlos Alcaraz vs Novak Djokovic again, although there are still one or two players in the draw that will certainly feel they have a part to play. This should mean a very good end to the Paris Olympics before the Tours shift to Canada for the Masters event beginning next week and the full attention of the sport will be on the US Open which is now a little under a month away from beginning in New York City.

Novak Djokovic - 3.5 games v Stefanos Tsitsipas: There have already been two memorable matches between Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas on the Roland Garros grounds as they prepare to meet in the Olympic Games Quarter Final in Paris.

Both times it is Novak Djokovic who has come out on top- in 2020 he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the French Open Quarter Final after blowing a 2-0 lead and needing a fifth set, but more important was the French Open Final win in 2022 when Djokovic came from 2-0 behind to prevent Tsitsipas from winning a maiden Grand Slam title.

Over two years later, Stefanos Tsitsipas is still waiting to win a Grand Slam title, but winning the Gold Medal would be a big achievement for him and his nation. A solid win was produced in the Third Round over Sebastian Baez, but there is still a feeling that Tsitsipas needs to find another level if he is going to get one over on Novak Djokovic, who is desperate to win the Gold Medal to 'complete' his tennis career.

The return has been key for Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last couple of Rounds having just about gotten through his opening match, but it will be tough to have the same impact against the Novak Djokovic serve. The latter has won at least 68% of points behind serve in each of his three wins this week and that is a very strong number for the clay courts, while Djokovic has won just shy of 67% of service points against Tsitsipas in their five previous clay court meetings.

This is a surface on which Tsitsipas may feel he has his best chance of upsetting Novak Djokovic, although the fact he has lost all five previous matches on the red dirt is going to be a mental obstacle to overcome. It has not been the best year on the clay for the World Number 11, and Novak Djokovic is likely going to feel pretty comfortable within this match up considering the form he has shown this week.

He has created plenty of Break Point chances and has been efficient with his chances when they have come up, and that is likely going to mean there is pressure on the Stefanos Tsitsipas game.

Facing arguably the greatest return player of all time is challenging in any circumstance, but Tsitsipas has not really been as strong behind his serve as he would have liked this week. The dominant win over Daniel Evans aside, Tsitsipas was tested by Sebastian Baez and Zizou Bergs on this side of his tennis and Novak Djokovic is likely going to offer a much sterner examination of his serve.

There is confidence in the way Stefanos Tsitsipas is carrying himself, but outside of the Monte Carlo Masters, he has a 1-7 record against top 10 opponents over the last twelve months and that is hard to ignore. The player himself will know full well about his own record, and that can play a part in giving Novak Djokovic enough of an edge to win and cover.

Carlos Alcaraz - 4.5 games v Tommy Paul: There is no doubt that the French Open and Wimbledon Champion will have a lot of respect for the capabilities of Tommy Paul on a tennis court as these two opponents prepare to meet for a second time in a month.

The match at Wimbledon saw the first two sets split, but it was Carlos Alcaraz who took control of the match and ultimately won that Quarter Final in four sets as he pulled away from the American.

The previous four matches had all be played on a hard court and had been split with two wins each so this is not a match up that Carlos Alcaraz will take lightly. He has been playing in the Doubles tournament alongside Rafael Nadal this week and managing the workload will be as challenging as the opponent on the other side of the net with the limited time off to prepare.

Despite that, Carlos Alcaraz has played well in the Singles tournament and he has been producing at the kind of high level expected from a player that won the French Open here just a little over six weeks ago. The serve really has been working at a superb level in this tournament and that is always going to give Carlos Alcaraz opportunities to roll through matches.

Prior to the Roland Garros victory, Alcaraz had not been at his absolute best on the clay, but that victory and the three wins here suggests he will be very difficult to beat at the Olympic Games. Serving well in this event has allowed Carlos Alcaraz to dominate on the return of serve and it will be a real test for Tommy Paul to keep this one competitive on arguably his worst surface.

That is not to say that Tommy Paul cannot perform on the clay, as he showed when reaching the Rome Masters Semi Final earlier this year. However, playing on the red dirt has been a tough experience for Paul and someone like Carlos Alcaraz should have far too much for him over the course of the ninety minutes they are likely going to spend on court.

Carlos Alcaraz has broken the Tommy Paul serve in 28% of return games played and that on the faster surfaces- on this surface, Alcaraz should have a little more success and that should put the Spaniard in a position to win and cover as he looks for his place in the Semi Final.

MY PICKS: Novak Djokovic - 3.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Carlos Alcaraz - 4.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Alexander Zverev - 3.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Olympic Games Update: 6-7, - 4.10 Units (26 Units Staked, - 15.78% Yield)

Paris Olympics Tennis Day 5 Picks 2024 (Wednesday 31st July)

The Olympic Games might be played over two weeks, but for the tennis players in Paris, the tournament is fast coming to a close.

We are already into the Quarter Final matches in the women's event and the men's Quarter Final matches will be set on Wednesday evening with the Gold Medals handed out this weekend. Many of the players on the Tour have already begun their hard court preparation with the US Open now less than a month away and there are two Masters events to get through before that too.

With that in mind, the Olympic Games tournament has to be fitted into the calendar every four years.

The players still playing for Medals will only be focused on what they can achieve over the next few days and both tournaments are heating up.

Plenty of attention is also being paid to the Doubles here with teams being paired that would not normally be seen for fans over the course of the season.

And winning a Doubles Gold Medal is still a huge achievement and one that players will remember for the rest of their lives so there is plenty to achieve in the coming days for all still in Paris.

Francisco Cerundolo + 3.5 games v Casper Ruud: Having a day of rest between the Second Round and Third Rounds at the Olympic Games is going to be a big deal for Francisco Cerundolo.

He won the title in Umag on Saturday and was already in action in Paris on Sunday with consecutive wins over Tomas Barrios Vera and Ugo Humbert. Beating one of the home hopes for a Medal will not have endeared Cerundolo to the Roland Garros crowd, especially as Argentina have been criticised for celebrations about French players at the end of the Copa America.

Fans can really get on top of players on these grounds, but Francisco Cerundolo has to believe he has gotten through the worst he will hear when beating a home hope in the previous Round.

Beating Casper Ruud on a clay court is a tougher challenge than seeing off Ugo Humbert and that is the bigger problem for Cerundolo in the Third Round. Over the last few years, only Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic have been able to beat Casper Ruud, although the Norwegian has not been at his absolute best over the last month.

He was disappointingly beaten by Thiago Monteiro in his opening match in Bastad, where Ruud was also playing Doubles alongside Rafael Nadal, while the wins over Taro Daniel and Andrea Vavassori at the Olympics have perhaps been tougher than expected.

Casper Ruud is a strong clay court player and his overall numbers have been much stronger than Francisco Cerundolo's.

The serve is a critical weapon that should give Ruud the edge, but the match up with Francisco Cerundolo has been one that has given the World Number 9 problems.

This is the sixth meeting on the Tour and it is Francisco Cerundolo who leads 3-2, while he has also won two of the three matches played on the clay courts. In their most recent on the clay in Rome in 2023, Casper Ruud was the much stronger player, but even then Francisco Cerundolo was able to drag him into a competitive match and this Third Round contest in Paris may end up being the same.

In terms of the pure numbers, there really has not been much between the players and it certainly makes the games being given to the underdog appealing from a handicap point of view.

Sebastian Baez + 4.5 games v Stefanos Tsitsipas: A comfortable Second Round win over Daniel Evans helped produce a win earlier this week, but this time the decision is to oppose Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The Third Round match against Sebastian Baez is expected to be much tougher than beating the British player in the previous Round, especially with the confidence Baez will bring into any clay court match.

It has been a summer where Baez has reached the Semi Final in Hamburg and the Quarter Final in Kitzbuhel, and he has beaten Thiago Monteiro before a tougher victory over Benjamin Hassan. The wins will have grown the confidence of the World Number 18, although Sebastian Baez is going to have to serve very well to stay competitive in this match.

Stefanos Tsitsipas came through a difficult First Round match before the comfortable victory over Daniel Evans, but it has not been the year expected despite some successes. He will be the first to admit that more needs to be done if he is going to challenge the elite on the ATP Tour, although Tsitsipas has also been dealing with a couple of injuries that have just restricted his capabilities.

Playing on the clay gives him every chance of winning a Medal this week, although the potential Quarter Final against Novak Djokovic looks an extreme test.

Overlooking Sebastian Baez and thinking ahead to any potential meeting with Djokovic would be a mistake though and the Argentinian player is capable of pushing Stefanos Tsitsipas even in a losing effort.

The two previous matches between these players on the Tour have both been very competitive, although Stefanos Tsitsipas has been able to come through on the hard courts in Melbourne and the clay courts in Madrid. The last of those matches was played over twelve months ago, but Tsitsipas will be relatively confident in the match up and that may see him come through one or two critical moments during this match.

Those are the moments that could prove telling in the direction this match eventually is played out, but Sebastian Baez can stay within this bigger than expected line set for the Third Round contest.

MY PICKS: Francisco Cerundolo + 3.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)

Sebastian Baez + 4.5 Games @ 2.10 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Donna Vekic - 1.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Olympic Games Update: 6-4, + 1.90 Units (20 Units Staked, + 8.64% Yield)

Paris Olympics Tennis Day 4 Picks 2024 (Tuesday 30th July)

Ever since the draw at the French Open, I have had a feeling that Rafael Nadal would find a way to return to Roland Garros and beyond the Olympic Games.

Losing to Alexander Zverev in a competitive match might have felt a little better for Nadal and his fans when noting that the same player reached the French Open Final and was actually leading 2-1 in sets against Carlos Alcaraz.

Injury is tough to deal with from a mental point of view and Rafael Nadal will have to show a real willingness to battle through some of the pain if he is going to have one more run. He is playing in Paris at less than 100%, but the second set performance against Novak Djokovic will have just acted as a reminder of how close Nadal is to being able to challenge the top players on the Tour.

It would be a shame if his last two appearances at Roland Garros were the defeats suffered to Zverev and Djokovic, although it is better than losing to players who would not have competed with Rafael Nadal at his very best. At least those two players can say they have stood up to Nadal at his best on the clay, but the feeling remains that the Spaniard may not be quite ready to call time on his career.

His attention will turn to the Doubles Tournament the rest of the way and Novak Djokovic will continue on his path towards securing a first Gold Medal to complete his collection of trophies/medals as a tennis player.

A day of rest before the Third Round will help Djokovic, who has clearly not operating at full strength, while the draw is panning out pretty well for the former World Number 1. The main threat is still going on the other side of the draw in Carlos Alcaraz, at least at the time of writing, but Djokovic has to be feeling pretty good about his chances in Paris this week.

The women's event will already get into the Third Round action on Tuesday with the entire Round played ahead of the Wednesday Quarter Final matches.

Players will certainly begin to think about winning a Medal for their nation with two wins under their belts, but the matches look much more competitive now and this is a test for all still involved in this tournament.

Mariano Navone + 4.5 games v Lorenzo Musetti: The Olympic Games is the pinnacle for so many sports, but you cannot really say the same for tennis.

It is a reason that so many players have been willing to skip the event in order to prepare for the US Open, while others have arrived late in Paris after deciding to play tournaments to build up Ranking points. One of those late arrivals is Lorenzo Musetti who reached the Final in Umag to continue what has been an impressive summer following the French Open.

Most would expect his best results to be produced on the clay courts, but the Italian reached the Semi Final in Stuttgart on the grass and followed up with a Runners Up finish at Queen's Club before an impressive Semi Final run at Wimbledon. Confidence is clearly high right now and the performances in Umag will have just reminded Lorenzo Musetti of his capabilities on the clay courts after a pretty poor year on the surface.

In saying that, it should be noted that Lorenzo Musetti reached the Final of a couple of Challenger events around the early defeats at the Madrid and Rome Masters. He pushed Novak Djokovic to five sets in losing to the former World Number 1 in the Third Round at Roland Garros, and the run to the Final in Umag last week and the win over Gael Monfils in the First Round here will give Musetti plenty of belief.

He is looking to earn a measure of revenge over Mariano Navone who beat Musetti in the Final of the Challenger event played in Cagliari in early May.

Mariano Navone had a solid win over Nuno Borges in the First Round at the Olympic Games, and won that title in Cagliari as mentioned. However, the last couple of months have been littered with a lot more defeats than victories and that will have knocked some of the confidence, even if a couple of the losses were in competitive matches.

Like many from Argentina, Mariano Navone is very comfortable on the clay courts and that will certainly help him in this Second Round match. He has a 5-4 record on the clay when facing an opponent Ranked inside the top 50 in 2024, and that win over Lorenzo Musetti in Cagliari will certainly fuel the belief of earning an upset.

Lorenzo Musetti is playing the superior tennis of the two players since the French Open, but Navone can certainly force him to dig deep to earn a place in the Third Round the latter looks to be given enough games to be worth backing.

Camila Osorio + 4.5 games v Danielle Collins: Being a successful Junior player and being able to bring that game to the pro Tour is always a tough challenge and that has certainly been the case for Camila Osorio.

The Colombian had reached as high as Number 33 in the World Rankings a little over two years ago, but it has been a difficult twelve months and she has dropped down to World Number 83. She will be inspired to represent her nation at the Olympic Games and Camila Osorio has produced a couple of solid wins over higher Ranked opponents in each of the last two Rounds.

Those wins have to give Camila Osorio belief in her tennis and it does feel like she is being overlooked in this Third Round match.

Danielle Collins is in her final year on the Tour and finishing with an Olympic Medal would be a massive achievement, but the American is not exactly at her best on the clay courts. The First Round win over Laura Siegemund ended prematurely with injury meaning the German had to retire mid-match, while Danielle Collins came through in three sets against veteran Caroline Wozniacki on Monday.

The American did reach win the title in Charleston and the Semi Final in Rome, while she was also a Runner Up in Strasbourg. It has comfortably been her most productive year on the clay courts, which makes Danielle Collins a threat in this draw, but she does not always make her own life as easy as it could be.

Much of that is down to the fact that Collins can be very aggressive on the court and going for her shots can lead to more errors. On a surface where patience can be so important, Danielle Collins has perhaps not always had the right approach to matches and someone like Camila Osorio can extract the mistakes with her ability to move around the court.

The reality is that Danielle Collins should win the match, but covering this big mark may be tough for her if Camila Osorio maintains the form shown in the last couple of Rounds. At the very least Osorio can take a set and that may be enough to move into a position to keep this one close enough to make the handicap start a telling one.

You have to respect the fact that Collins has the tennis to blitz past anyone, but Camila Osorio is a potential banana skin and one that should be afforded more respect of her own.

MY PICKS: Mariano Navone + 4.5 Games @ 1.61 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Camila Osorio + 4.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Olympic Games Update: 5-3, + 2.68 Units (16 Units Staked, + 16.75% Yield)

Paris Olympics Tennis Day 3 Picks 2024 (Monday 29th July)

Almost the entirety of the Olympic Games First Round matches were played on Sunday and there was some very good news for fans of the sport.

One, Rafael Nadal was able to play the Singles after concerns about an injury, and two, he won.

This means Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic has been set for the Second Round on the famous French Open grounds and there is every chance that this will be the 'last dance' between two of the all-time greats.

The Second Round match is expected to be played on Tuesday so that is something for everyone to look forward to, although others in the draw will be hoping to make the sporting headlines of their own when the Second Round gets underway on Day 3 at the Paris Olympics.

With the majority of the First Round matches concluded on Sunday, some of the markets for the matches to be played on Monday may not be put together until just a few hours before the players are expected to take the court. Any selections from later in the day may have to be placed in this thread on Monday morning if those markets become available.

Saturday proved to be a tough opening day for the selections, but two winners on Sunday have at least recovered some of the losses. Hopefully that momentum can carry through into Day 3 with the selections below.

Surprisingly, since writing this little passage out, it has been announced that Djokovic vs Nadal will be played on Monday and that should only strengthen the position of the former in his bid to 'upset' the long-time dominant clay court Champion.

Novak Djokovic - 4.5 games v Rafael Nadal: It has been a little over two years since Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal last met on the Tour and it ended with a win for Nadal on the clay courts of Roland Garros. The Quarter Final victory at the French Open saw Rafael Nadal go on and win a fourteenth title in Paris and it was no surprise that he was a big part of the Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Games.

A month after winning the second Grand Slam of 2022, Rafael Nadal picked up an injury at Wimbledon and his career has been in jeopardy ever since. Earlier this season he arrived at the French Open under another injury cloud and was beaten in the First Round in what many believe is his last appearance at that Grand Slam, and a decision was made to focus on the Olympic Games on the same grounds where Nadal has stamped his mark on history.

Fourteen French Open titles are almost certainly not going to be surpassed by a single player, but Rafael Nadal is not the player he once was and has been struggling for consistency this season. Earlier this month Nadal reached the Final in Bastad in a clay court warm up tournament after missing Wimbledon, but the opponents faced are not up to the level of Novak Djokovic and bridging the gap will be tough.

This is a rivalry of the ages and the players are meeting for an incredible SIXTIETH time on Monday in the Second Round at the Olympic Games, and this is the twenty-ninth match on the clay courts. Unsurprisingly Rafael Nadal has won twenty of those matches on the surface on which he has been most comfortable, but Novak Djokovic has produced a couple of wins over the Spaniard at Roland Garros so there won't be too much intimidation.

He will respect Nadal, but Novak Djokovic is coming off a run to the Wimbledon Final and that will give him confidence as he chases a first Gold Medal. This has been a tough season for Djokovic and he is going to have to serve very well to get the better of even a compromised Nadal.

The scheduling is certainly not ideal for Rafael Nadal having played a tough match on Sunday having competed in the Doubles the previous evening. He has played a couple of matches since Novak Djokovic coasted through his own First Round match on Saturday and there is a feeling that Nadal may just have a few issues keeping his level as high as it will be needed.

Rafael Nadal is just 6-5 on the clay courts against top 100 Ranked opponents this season and has suffered some one-sided defeats.

With an opponent who will play him like he did when Nadal was at his very best, it could be a really tough Second Round match for the Spaniard. It would be so good to see Rafael Nadal find a way to get back to his best, but Novak Djokovic is still very much near his top level and the Serb can wear down his old rival and eventually cover this handicap mark set.

Stefanos Tsitsipas - 5.5 games v Daniel Evans: It was always going to be a summer in which retirement would be confirmed for Andy Murray and the body has prevented him from playing Singles at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games as hoped. Instead he is playing in the Doubles with Daniel Evans in a bid to win another Gold Medal and Evans has admitted that he is perhaps more focused on ensuring he is ready to compete for Murray, rather than having big ambitions to win a Medal as a Singles player.

It is perhaps a tall task to win a Medal anyway, especially on the clay courts, and Daniel Evans has had a tough twelve months on the Tour with his World Ranking in danger of slipping out of the top 60.

This may mean Daniel Evans is thinking about his long-term plays in a career which has been one of overachievement all things considered. Perhaps the move onto the hard courts will allow Evans to finish this season with a flourish, but he has won just three of the ten matches played on the clay courts this season.

One of those wins was in the First Round at the Olympic Games, but Evans needed three sets to beat the World Number 384 and now faces a considerable step up in class.

Stefanos Tsitsipas will be pretty disappointed with his 2024 and his hopes of winning a Grand Slam title look that much slimmer since the emergence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the top of the ATP Tour. It was Alcaraz who ended Stefanos Tsitsipas' time at the French Open in the Quarter Final, but the Greek player has won a title on the clay courts and is a much stronger player on the surface than Daniel Evans.

This season has been down on the numbers, especially behind serve, and Stefanos Tsitsipas also had to come through in three sets in the First Round despite heading into the opening match as a strong favourite.

It is a concern about his long-term prospects of winning a Medal at the Paris Olympics, but this is a match up that should suit Tsitsipas. He has beaten Daniel Evans in all four previous matches and that includes a couple of wins on the hard courts, while the clay is a domain that should be giving the higher Ranked player a significant edge.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has dominated the Daniel Evans serve on the clay courts, while he has won 72% of service points played. The last of the matches between these players was back in 2022 at the Paris Masters, but Stefanos Tsitsipas has had a significant edge all around and Daniel Evans may lack the motivation to change things around here.

MY PICKS: Novak Djokovic - 4.5 Games @ 1.61 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Stefanos Tsitsipas - 5.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)

Maria Sakkari - 5.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Olympic Games Update: 2-3, - 1.80 Units (10 Units Staked, - 18% Yield)

Paris Olympics Tennis Day 2 Picks 2024 (Sunday 28th July)

It feels like we are back in the first week of the French Open in May when the rain lashed down in Paris and really messed things around for the organisers.

Two weeks were available to ensure that Grand Slam tournament finished on schedule, but only one week is allocated to the Olympic Games where the heavy, continuous rain of Friday moved into Saturday and decimated the order of play for the day.

At least two of the courts have roofs so there were some matches completed, but all will be hoping that the upturn in the weather forecast comes true.

Increase in temperature and a bright sky is expected from Sunday through the next week, or majority of next week, and that should mean the tennis at the Olympic Games is able to be completed on time. Sunday is going to be an incredibly busy day with almost the entirety of the First Round to be played with plenty of Doubles matches likely to be scheduled too.

Another tough day of finding good picks looks to be in the offing though and so there are only two selections on Day 2 of the tournament and both from the Women's event being played.

Elina Svitolina - 5.5 games v Moyuka Uchijima: The early Rounds of the Olympic Games can have unfamiliar names entering the draw thanks to the different qualification rules as we would expect for the Tennis Tour.

Moyuka Uchijima may not be a name too familiar to fans, but this is a player operating at a career high World Ranking mark of Number 66, which will see her compete in the First Round at the US Open next month. The Japanese representative has to be afforded plenty of respect having won twenty-two of the twenty-six matches played on the clay courts in 2024, while Uchijima was able to win three Qualifiers and a First Round match at the French Open.

Ultimately the run was ended by Aryna Sabalenka and there has to be a slight feeling that Moyuka Uchijima has an inflated Ranking mark having dominated at a level below the main WTA Tour. This is backed up by the fact that this will be just the seventh match against a top 100 Ranked opponent on the clay courts and Uchijima has been beaten in four of the last six in that situation, including at the French Open as mentioned.

There is more experience of facing top 100 Ranked opponents on the other surfaces, but it has proved to be a step too far for Moyuka Uchijima who has lost 84% of her matches played against those opponents.

Her opponent in the First Round of the Olympic Games will not be lacking for motivation- Elina Svitolina has been very vocal about the issues affecting her homeland in Ukraine and being able to wear the colours of her nation is only going to have Svitolina performing with that much more inspiration.

Elina Svitolina is very comfortable on the surface having reached the Quarter Final at the French Open in consecutive tournaments and she has won six of seven matches played on this surface against opponents Ranked outside the top 50. The style of her tennis means Svitolina can be dragged into tough battles even when winning matches, and that has to be a concern with this handicap mark.

However, there is that additional motivation behind her tennis in Paris this week and Elina Svitolina is already much loved in France having married one of their top players from recent times. That support and the colours should inspire Svitolina and the feeling is that this could be the start of a very big week for the Ukrainian.

Barbora Krejcikova - 4.5 games v Sara Sorribes Tormo: When it comes to the Ladies tournament, Wimbledon has continued to throw up a surprise Champion and 2024 has proved to be no different from recent seasons.

This time it is Barbora Krejcikova who will spend the next twelve months being referred to as the Wimbledon Champion and a second Grand Slam Singles title for the Czech player has to be respected. She endured a really poor clay court campaign and Krejcikova would not have had too many backers outside of friends and family when arriving at SW19, but the win should have restored a lot of the lost confidence that injury will bring to the table.

She had been slipping down the World Rankings, but Barbora Krejcikova will arrive in Paris as the World Number 10 after winning the title at Wimbledon earlier this month. It has been a couple of weeks of rest and recovery for Krejcikova as she looks to secure a first clay court win in 2024.

It is remarkable to think Barbora Krejcikova was beaten in all four clay court matches after suffering opening defeats in Stuttgart, Madrid, Strasbourg and then at the French Open. That run is even more surprising considering Krejcikova was the 2021 French Open Champion and she will arrive back on these grounds with a bit more belief about her all around game.

All of that will be needed against Sara Sorribes Tormo who is very comfortable on the clay courts, but who has been enduring a tough twelve months filled with inconsistent results. It has pushed the Spaniard down to World Number 71 ahead of the Olympic Games, while wins have been hard to come by of late.

Sara Sorribes Tormo has lost seven of her last eight matches, which includes an opening Round defeat in Paris at the French Open and also in a tournament played below the main WTA Tour level on the clay.

Over the last couple of seasons, Sara Sorribes Tormo continues to produce the majority of her wins on the clay courts and that does make her dangerous. She had decent runs in Madrid and Rome, while reaching the Quarter Final in Rabat before the disappointing defeat at the French Open.

However, this has been a tough match up for Sorribes Tormo having lost all three sets completed against Barbora Krejcikova and failing to win more than three games in any of those. The defensive skills on a clay court might be a little tougher to produce if the expected warmer temperatures arrive in Paris and Barbora Krejcikova is much better on the clay courts than her results from earlier this season indicate.

There can be some uncertainty as to how a player will respond to winning a Grand Slam title, especially an unexpected success, but Barbora Krejcikova has taken some time off to just settle down. The same happened after her win at the French Open in 2021 and Krejcikova managed to reach the Wimbledon Fourth Round that year.

As long as she is not thinking ahead to the hard court season, Barbora Krejcikova may have the tennis to wear down Sara Sorribes Tormo and cover this handicap line set in the First Round.

MY PICKS: Elina Svitolina - 5.5 Games @ 2.10 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Barbora Krejcikova - 4.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Olympic Games Update: 0-2, - 4 Units (4 Units Staked, - 100% Yield)

Paris Olympics Tennis Day 1 Picks 2024 (Saturday 27th July)

The Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris in 2024 was... interesting... but the attention now turns to the athletes and what they are able to produce in the events scheduled.

There will be plenty of eyes on the athletics, gymnastics and swimming events, which really do earn their right to be in the spotlight at the Olympic Games, but fans of sports like basketball, boxing and tennis will certainly be tuning in for those events too.

Winning a Gold Medal may not be quite up there with winning a Grand Slam, but it is still a massive achievement and something tennis players speak about with real ambition. Paris will be no different with this being the second Olympic Games in the last four editions that will be played on the grounds where a Grand Slam is usually the focus.

It was Wimbledon in 2012, but the focus will be on Roland Garros in 2024 and the two French Open Champions are both favourites to win the Gold Medal. The men play a best of three format at the Olympic Games rather than best of five, which may offer up a chance for someone to upset Carlos Alcaraz as the tournament is played, but beating Iga Swiatek will be a massive challenge for every other player in the women's draw.

Doubles and Mixed Doubles are also played this week and we begin with a pretty loaded schedule on Saturday, which is hopefully much less wet than the day before.

The roof can be employed on the main show courts in Paris, but the last thing the organisers want is a week like the French Open had to cope with to open the second Slam of the season.

Iga Swiatek - 7.5 games v Irina-Camelia Begu: The Paris Olympic Games return to the famous courts of the French Open, the second time in four Olympic Games that the Tennis tournament will be played on the grounds of a Grand Slam tournament.

After another dominant showing on the red dirt which concluded with another French Open title, Iga Swiatek is going to be a very strong favourite to win the Gold Medal next week before the entire Tour shifts attention to the final Grand Slam of the season played in New York City beginning at the end of August.

The grass courts proved to be too much of a challenge for Swiatek, but the World Number 1 will be confident back on this surface and this looks a good First Round match for her to work her way into the tournament. Preparation for a return to the clay courts would have been outside of tournaments being played between Wimbledon and the Olympic Games, but Iga Swiatek is unlikely to need too much time to adjust.

She is facing an opponent who reached the Semi Final in a clay tournament played in Palermo in the build up to these Games, while Irina-Camelia Begu is a former World Number 22 and deserves respect. These days it has been much tougher work for Begu who is outside the top 100 of the World Rankings, but she did use her Protected Ranking to reach the Third Round at the French Open earlier this year.

The Romanian is very happy on the clay courts and her best results have been on the surface, but this is a massive step up and Irina-Camelia Begu has suffered some one-sided defeats to the likes of Danielle Collins and Karolina Muchova on the red dirt this season.

Iga Swiatek also crushed Begu when these players met at Wimbledon in 2021 and that is on the least favoured surface for the World Number 1. On the courts of Roland Garros, the Pole is expected to be that much happier and she may be able to crush this opponent and cover what is a very big handicap spread for a best of three set match.

However, it is a mark that Swiatek has regularly covered on the clay courts in her dominant time at the top and she can do the same here.

Naomi Osaka - 4.5 games v Angelique Kerber: Two former World Number 1 Ranked players meet in the opening Round at the Olympic Games and both Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber are much happier when not playing on the clay courts.

They have more in common with both players returning to the Tour in 2024 after becoming mothers, but it has always felt like Osaka may still have more to offer than 36 year old Angelique Kerber.

It has played out that way with Kerber announcing that she plans on concluding a very successful tennis career at the conclusion of her participation at the Olympic Games. Grand Slam titles have been won, but it is a very tall task for Angelique Kerber to improve on the Silver Medal she earned at the 2016 Games.

That is especially difficult on a clay court and thoughts turning to retirement may leave the German vulnerable early in the tournament against an opponent that has the qualities to return to the top of the WTA Tour.

Unsurprisingly it has been an inconsistent year for Naomi Osaka, but returning to Roland Garros may fill her with some confidence having had Match Points to beat Iga Swiatek here a couple of months ago. Hard courts might be her favourite domain, but Osaka showed she has the tools to be a threat on the clay as long as she can avoid the errors that can be a big part of her game.

Angelique Kerber is leading the head to head by four wins to two, but many of those were played at a time when the German would have been a much higher Ranked player. The most recent match was won by Naomi Osaka after a slip in her World Ranking, but there is more about the Japanese representative and she may be able to push Kerber through the door of Singles retirement after a solid victory.

Pavel Kotov - 2.5 games v Stan Wawrinka: You do have to wonder how much more Stan Wawrinka has to give a sport in which he has overachieved by winning three Grand Slam titles.

These days Wawrinka is outside of the top 100 of the World Rankings and you cannot imagine he will be wanting to fight through the Qualifiers to play in the top events on the Tour.

Consistency is always going to be difficult to maintain at the latter end of a career and Stan Wawrinka will have seen many of his peers either retire or very much in the same final furlong of their career.

The Swiss player will be looking for revenge over Pavel Kotov having been beaten by the latter on the clay courts at the French Open. This First Round match at the Olympic Games will be played on the same grounds and the expectation is that Kotov can frank the form, even though he has hardly been pulling up trees in his own recent performances.

Both players have struggled after Wimbledon with early defeats in clay court events played in Europe, but Kotov has the slightly stronger numbers. He was the better player in their match up in Paris earlier this season and the expectation is that the younger player will prevail again, even if Stan Wawrinka continues to be involved in some competitive defeats.

MY PICKS: Iga Swiatek - 7.5 Games @ 1.80 Paddy Power (2 Units)

Naomi Osaka - 4.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Pavel Kotov - 2.5 Games @ 1.95 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Olympic Tennis Day 9 Picks 2021 (August 1st)

The Tokyo Olympics are concluded for the Tennis tournament on Sunday with the Men's Gold Medal match and I do think it has the potential of being a good one.

Karen Khachanov + 3.5 games v Alexander Zverev: The Gold Medal has been decided in the Women's event and the Bronze Medal in both the Women's and Men's event was also played on Saturday. That leaves the Sunday clear for the Men's Gold Medal match between Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov as they look to secure the biggest title of their careers which could spark more to come at Grand Slam level.

The challenge in the Grand Slams is different in the best of five set format, but this Gold Medal match has changed format back into the best of the three set format. That should aid both Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov, although the pressure of winning a major title is something they will be relatively unfamiliar with.

Alexander Zverev has experienced playing in a US Open Final and that should help him massively in the Gold Medal match. He did blow a strong opportunity to win that Slam last year, but the German is coming off a confidence boosting win over the World Number 1 and he is going to head into the Final as a significant favourite.

The tournament has been a really strong one for Alexander Zverev and that will further the belief in the player that he can win this Gold Medal and perhaps use it to spark further success on the Tour. Alexander Zverev's serve is a big weapon, but the conditions have suited him in Tokyo when it comes to the return and that makes him very dangerous.

However, I don't think you can draw a line through the chances of Karen Khachanov who had a very strong win in the Semi Final and looks to be at home in the conditions himself. He has spent longer on the court than Alexander Zverev, but Karen Khachanov has had a couple of days off and the comfortable win in the Semi Final will have given him ample time to refresh and get ready for the biggest match of his career.

Like Zverev, Karen Khachanov has been really strong behind his serve and I think that gives him a chance of the upset. The Russian has also been impressive on the return and his head to head with Alexander Zverev will certainly offer further encouragement.

It has been a couple of years since these players last met on the professional Tour, but Karen Khachanov has won the last two matches to pull himself back to 2-2 against Alexander Zverev. Both those wins have come on a faster hard court than the one that they will be playing on in Tokyo, but they are two wins that will give Karen Khachanov a lot of belief in his ability to knock off the favourite.

Over their three previous hard court matches, Karen Khachanov has held in 88% of service games played against Alexander Zverev compared with the 64% mark of the latter. Karen Khachanov has dominated the break points created in the last two matches between the pair and I do think the Russian can be backed with a start to at least keep this one close.

I think he can take a set which would give him the chance of the cover and Karen Khachanov is worth siding with in this Gold Medal match before all the players move across to North America for preparation towards the US Open.

MY PICKS: Karen Khachanov + 3.5 Games @ 1.85 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Olympic Game: 25-18, + 4.06 Units (88 Units Staked, + 4.61% Yield)

Olympic Tennis Day 8 Picks 2021 (July 31st)

The Tokyo Olympics are down to the Medal matches for those taking part in the Tennis event and the majority of the players involved have likely began their move across to North America where the build up to the US Open has begun.

Most won't likely take part in events listed to begin over the next few days, but Rafael Nadal is back as he travels to Washington for the first time.

Those are the 'weakest' events left before the run to the US Open with back to back Masters events in Canada and Cincinnati played back to back in the middle of August. We should begin to get some insight into how the US Open may shake out, but for now the focus is on the Olympics and handing out the Medals across the next two days.

Elena Rybakina - 1.5 games v Elina Svitolina: The Bronze Medal match in the Women's Tennis Olympic tournament will be played before the Gold Medal match and it is a strange situation for the players competing. Every other tournament they would have played would have been over as soon as the Semi Final match points went against them, but Elena Rybakina and Elina Svitolina have to return to the court two days after those defeats to play this Bronze Medal match.

The mindset can be quite difficult to determine when you think of the normality of the situation for the players off a defeat. Elena Rybakina has to be feeling the Semi Final loss a little more than Elina Svitolina because the Kazakhstan player may believe that one or two points cost her the match in a very close encounter. The Elina Svitolina defeat was much more straight-forward and I do wonder if the early exploits in the tournament have caught up with a player who may not have spent as much time on the court as she would have liked in the lead up to the Olympic Games.

Elina Svitolina has only recently married Gael Monfils and that may have taken her focus from the tennis so the run in Tokyo is something of a surprise. Even more so when you think of the inconsistent performances Svitolina has produced over the last twelve months and she has not really played at a very high level in the tournament, but has managed to get through to the Bronze Medal match by playing the big points better than her opponents have been able to do.

I do think she is going to have to improve dramatically from the Semi Final level if she is going to beat Elena Rybakina who had breezed through her first four matches before losing a break advantage in the final set of her Semi Final defeat to Belinda Bencic. The Rybakina serve has been a big weapon for her throughout this tournament and she has found a consistency on the return of serve which may just give the younger player an edge as she looks to Medal.

Elina Svitolina's serve is much more erratic and I do think it is a vulnerable part of her game which has prevented her kicking on and winning a Grand Slam. While she has won four matches here, the Ukrainian has not really been dominant on the return of serve either and I do think Elena Rybakina will get the better of her as long as the almost three hour Semi Final has not taken too much from her mentally and emotionally.

Before that match, Elena Rybakina has not really spent a lot of time on the court compared with Elina Svitolina who had multiple matches being played that lasted more than two hours on the court. She looked a little drained in the Semi Final defeat to Marketa Vondrousova and Elena Rybakina beat Elina Svitolina last month on a grass court when her serve was the key difference.

The hard court numbers produced by both players have been very similar over the last twelve months, but Elena Rybakina has been performing at a much better level in this tournament and I think she can conclude it with a Bronze Medal.

Marketa Vondrousova - 1.5 games v Belinda Bencic: Over the last three years it has become clear that there isn't a dominant player on the WTA Tour and that has meant the big tournaments have been much more open for all who take part. It has led to a number of first time Grand Slam Champions and the Olympic Games five years ago saw Monica Puig win a Gold Medal.

Naomi Osaka was the favourite to win the Gold Medal this time around along with World Number 1 Ashleigh Barty, but both exited the tournament relatively early. Even then, you would be hard pressed to find too many people who would have tipped up Marketa Vondrousova versus Belinda Bencic in the Gold Medal match and this is easily going to be the biggest tournament won by either of these players.

It does mean there will be a new kind of pressure to deal with, but Marketa Vondrousova may be slightly better placed to deal with that. The Czech youngster reached the French Open Final in 2019 and so will know what it takes to perform in an environment like this one which may be a slight edge over Belinda Bencic who has not been beyond the Fourth Round at three of the four Grand Slams played and her best effort being one Semi Final run at the US Open a little under two years ago.

There is little doubt that Marketa Vondrousova has played the stronger tennis to this point of the tournament too after a difficult opening match. She has taken full advantage of using a Protected Ranking to enter the draw when her current World Ranking would not have been good enough to represent a loaded Czech Republic team, and Marketa Vondrousova's numbers have seen her consistently out-perform Belinda Bencic.

The Swiss player came through an incredibly tough Semi Final against Elena Rybakina, but Belinda Bencic was a little fortunate on the day having produced fewer break points than her opponent. It was a really long match too and you do have to wonder if that has sapped some of the energy she is going to need to challenge Marketa Vondrousova who has won their sole previous match, also on a hard court.

It was a victory in a tough three setter, but Marketa Vondrousova earned three times as many break points as Belinda Bencic and she has won more than 50% of return points in each of her last four matches. That is incredibly dangerous for Belinda Bencic who gave up 16 break points in her Semi Final win over Elena Rybakina and who has been struggling to earn easy service games in her last three matches.

Belinda Bencic is capable in her return game, but it has been a relative weakness in her performances on the hard courts in recent seasons. I think that will be the case in this Gold Medal match and I think Marketa Vondrousova will have enough to come through with the victory and the cover of this handicap mark.

Pablo Carreno Busta + 5.5 games v Novak Djokovic: In normal circumstances, Novak Djokovic will be a player who doesn't spend a lot of time playing Doubles Tennis alongside his Singles commitments and certainly not at a major event. However, a proud Serb wanted to represent his nation to the fullest of his abilities at the Olympic Games and that has meant Novak Djokovic took part in the Mixed Doubles as well as the Singles tournament in Tokyo.

Some of that may have caught up with him as he was beaten in three sets in the Semi Final of the Singles tournament and later followed up with a straight sets defeat in the Mixed Doubles.

The dream of a Golden Slam have thus ended in the defeat to Alexander Zverev and now Novak Djokovic will instead be contesting the Bronze Medal match for the third time. He won that Medal in 2008 and was then beaten to finish without a Medal in London in 2012, while Novak Djokovic will also be dealing with the disappointment of losing his opportunity to win a Gold Medal.

It may not be his last chance to do that, but in three years time you would expect Novak Djokovic to not be as strong as he is right now. With the best opportunity now behind him, I do wonder what kind of motivation Novak Djokovic can have in this Bronze Medal match after looking completely exhausted by the end of his match with Alexander Zverev.

That has to be encouraging for Pablo Carreno Busta after the Spaniard was convincingly beaten in the first Semi Final against Karen Khachanov despite going into the match as the favourite. Winning a Medal would be a major achievement for Carreno Busta so I expect him to come out with a little more energy than Novak Djokovic, while Pablo Carreno Busta has to think about trying to extend the rallies and see whether a tired World Number 1 can really find the extra energy needed to win a Medal that he would not have been targeting before the tournament began.

Novak Djokovic is clearly the better hard court player and he has had the better tournament all around compared with Pablo Carreno Busta. The latter may need something like a repeat of their famous match at the US Open last year when Novak Djokovic was Defaulted after knocking a ball to the back of the court which hit a Line Judge.

However, I do think Novak Djokovic may be more focused on the other Bronze Medal match he is competing in on Saturday. Winning in the Mixed Doubles as a part of a team will be more appealing to a player that has a Singles Bronze Medal at home already and that should give Pablo Carreno Busta a chance for the upset.

Overall it certainly makes it feel like the underdog can keep this close with the amount of games being given to him. Novak Djokovic may still dig in and show his class in the victory, but I can see him coasting at times to preserve some energy and it may give Pablo Carreno Busta an opportunity to at least keep things close on the scoreboard.

MY PICKS: Elena Rybakina - 1.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Marketa Vondrousova - 1.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)

Pablo Carreno Busta - 5.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)

Olympic Games: 23-17, + 2.96 Units (82 Units Staked, + 3.61% Yield)

Olympic Tennis Day 7 Picks 2021 (July 30th)

We are down to the business end of the Tokyo Olympics as far as the Tennis tournament goes and over the weekend the Medals will be handed out.

The Women's Gold and Bronze Medal matches have been put together, while the Men's line up will be completed on Friday.

Karen Khachanov v Pablo Carreno Busta: Three of the four players left in the Men's draw are going to be taking home a Medal from the Olympic Games, but first they get to play for the opportunity to guarantee a Medal. The first Semi Final in Tokyo sees two players who have flown under the radar make their way through the bottom half of the draw and you would have to say that the winner of this Semi Final is likely going to head into the Gold Medal match as a significant underdog.

That is a worry for another day for Karen Khachanov and Pablo Carreno Busta as they look to take their place in the Final on Sunday and both players will feel pretty good about their chances having worked their way through four matches here.

Karen Khachanov has backed up a strong performance at Wimbledon and he is a very confident hard court player, although the relatively slower conditions in Tokyo are perhaps going to favour Pablo Carreno Busta. The Spaniard has previously reached the US Open Semi Final and is a more confident hard court player than some may assume because of his nationality, but Pablo Carreno Busta has shown time and again that he can't be underestimated on this surface.

His numbers are far from eye-catching, but you have to credit Pablo Carreno Busta for being able to play his best tennis at critical points within matches. Pablo Carreno Busta is making full use of his serve this week and his win over Daniil Medvedev in the Quarter Final was particularly impressive, although the margins have been tight and that is going to be encouraging for the next Russian he is going to face in this tournament.

A huge amount of time has been spent on court by Karen Khachanov over the last two Rounds and it has been incredibly hot in Tokyo which does make you wonder if it is going to be a telling factor in this Semi Final. However, Pablo Carreno Busta has been forced to dig plenty deep in his own matches and he is now going to have to face up to the Karen Khachanov serve which has been a huge part of the successes the Russian player has had in the event.

Karen Khachanov has been serving pretty big throughout the tournament and that is huge for him if he is going to reach the Gold Medal match. It has helped him get his teeth into the return games and I think it may give Khachanov the slightest of advantages in this match.

Pablo Carreno Busta won their sole meeting in 2021, although that came on a clay court and that may be a surface in which the Spaniard would be favoured. The last two hard court matches have been won by Karen Khachanov though and he has held 84% of the service games played against Pablo Carreno Busta compared with an 80% mark for the latter.

Last year Karen Khachanov beat Pablo Carreno Busta in straight sets in Cincinnati, but that is a much faster surface than the one they have seemingly been playing on in Tokyo. I honestly don't think there will be much between the players, but Karen Khachanov has been producing the higher level at this tournament of the two and having the confidence of knowing he has won the last two times the players have met on a hard court may give the underdog enough to come through with another victory.

Alexander Zverev + 4.5 games v Novak Djokovic: He is making history in each passing week, but the run to the Olympic Games Semi Final has been incredibly straight-forward for Novak Djokovic and just underlines how difficult it is going to be to stop the World Number completing the Golden Slam. He will become the first men's player to do that and only the second tennis player to ever to do that, but Novak Djokovic is someone who wants to cement his legacy in the sport and chasing records motivates him.

Novak Djokovic has dropped just seventeen games in his four wins in Tokyo and he needed a little over an hour to end the home hopes of a Tennis Medal. The numbers over the first four matches are incredible and Novak Djokovic has hammered every opponent he has played, while he has only dropped his serve once in the four matches completed.

The serve may still have room for improvement, but Novak Djokovic is returning at such a high level that opponents are feeling the pressure every time they step up to the line. He has broken at least three times in each match played in the tournament and Novak Djokovic has won over 50% of the return points played in three of the four matches.

All of this points to a very difficult challenge for Alexander Zverev, although the German is the only player that has come close to matching the intensity and consistency of the World Number 1. However, Alexander Zverev does have a 2-6 head to head record against Novak Djokovic and he has lost both matches played against him this year and both of those have come on the hard courts.

The defeat at the Australian Open was competitive though and Alexander Zverev has given Novak Djokovic more to think about than just about anybody playing on the Tour over the last twelve months. That will be encouraging, while Alexander Zverev has a massive serve that can at least prevent Novak Djokovic from dominating the return games to the same standard he has in this tournament and for much of the last few seasons on the Tour.

Playing the big points more effectively is important for Alexander Zverev if he is going to have any chance of the upset, but he does produce enough from the serve to expect him to give Novak Djokovic the most to think about in this tournament so far. In their match at the Australian Open, Alexander Zverev actually created more break point chances than Novak Djokovic and it is something that he has to build upon if he is going to find a way to reach the Gold Medal match and end the dreams of the World Number 1.

Alexander Zverev has won the first set in each of the last two matches against Novak Djokovic on a hard court, but he would not have covered with this start in either as the World Number 1 rallied. He is in fine form in this tournament, but even then it is difficult to imagine the overall upset will be completed, although I do think the numbers in their two matches in 2021 suggests the German can keep this one close with the level he has shown.

It is very difficult to oppose Novak Djokovic who is clearly the best player in the world, but I am looking for Alexander Zverev to offer the strongest challenge that the World Number 1 has faced in Tokyo. Serving at his best is key for Zverev, but if he can do that he can move into a position to keep this match very close and I will back him with the start offered.

MY PICKS: Karen Khachanov @ 2.25 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Alexander Zverev + 4.5 Games @ 2.05 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Olympic Tennis Day 6 Picks 2021 (July 29th)

After more criticism of the Tennis schedule at the Olympic Games, the organisers have finally decided to delay the start of each day and that is good news for those of us in Europe with the matches now beginning at a more manageable time.

It is a shame it has taken the organisers so long to change the schedule and it might have been the sad sight of seeing Paula Badosa having to be taken off the court in a wheelchair that prompted it. Daniil Medvedev went as far as to ask the Umpire in his match who would be responsible if he was to die in the heat that Tokyo experienced on Wednesday, but it did feel like stubbornness had taken over and the players were not going to be listened to.

Things have changed as we are down to the Quarter Finals of the Men's event, while the four Women remaining will decide whether they are playing for a Gold Medal later this week or having to pick themselves up for a shot at the Bronze. The two winners on Thursday will guarantee their Medal opportunity with the Final deciding the Gold and Silver and it does mean one player is going to miss out completely, but it is up to the players to focus on the match in front of them.

Like many of the WTA draws over the last three or four years, new faces are getting to the business end of tournaments all the time and the winner of the Gold Medal looks like being as surprising as the last one when Monica Puig took home the top prize.

At this moment the Men's draw looks more clear as Novak Djokovic continues to brush aside all in front of him as he looks to add the Gold Medal to the three Grand Slams he has won in 2021. Alexander Zverev, Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev may be the biggest threats left in the draw, but Novak Djokovic has been on easy street for much of the tournament and looks like there are still gears to move through as he peaks towards the weekend.

After a poor Day 4, it was a much stronger Day 5 at the Olympic Games for the Tennis Picks and hopefully the start of a strong end to this tournament.

I have not had the time to write out full analysis of some of the Tennis Picks for Thursday, but I have researched these selections and will look for the momentum to carry through another day.

MY PICKS: Novak Djokovic - 5.5 Games @ 1.75 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Karen Khachanov-Ugo Humbert Over 22.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)

Jeremy Chardy + 4.5 Games @ 1.90 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Daniil Medvedev - 3.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (2 Units)

Elena Rybakina - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Elina Svitolina - 2.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Olympic Games: 19-14, + 3.42 Units (66 Units Staked, + 5.18% Yield)