Murray’s form is a boon for betters
WITH Andy Murray looking strong and opponents unable to put up much of a fight, this could be an interesting week for British tennis. Looking at the Wimbledon draw, there seems to be nobody except Federer to challenge the Scottish baseliner, unless Lleyton Hewitt can pull off something spectacular. That Murray has started calling him Lleyton Chewitt suggests that he isn’t too afraid of the Aussie.
For spread betters, there is plenty of action to be had from Murray. Federer is arguably the greatest player ever to wield a racket, but Murray has his measure, with six wins from their eight career meetings, including the last four matches. So the prices on offer this morning are very interesting indeed.
Sporting Index have a Men’s Index in which the winner gets 100 points, the runner-up 70, the losing semi-finalists 50 and quarter-final losers 33. Federer is priced at 76-80, meaning that you would get 20 times your price per point if he wins and lose six times your point-price if he loses in the final. Murray, interestingly, is at just 62-66, so if he were to win a punter would get 34 times their point price – and even if he lost in the final, would be quids-in.
CHEEKY OUTSIDER
For those who don’t let their patriotism cloud their judgement and who are after a cheeky outside bet, world number four Novak Djokovic is on a very tasty looking 46-49, and Andy Roddick, the former world number one and two-time Wimbledon finalist whose booming serve could on its day prove troublesome to even the best grass court players, is on 38-41.
NICE SIDELINES
Similar bets are available from extrabet.com, who have a 60 Index (60/40/20/10/5, with Federer on 42-45, Murray on 33-36, Djorkovic on 20-23, Roddick on 14-17 and Hewitt on 12-15.
If that’s all a bit staid for you, then Sporting Index also have some nice sidelines in the men’s singles tournament. They are offering a spread of 7-7.8 for the total sets to be won to love – this stands at seven at the moment. There’s a similar bet on the number of tie-breaks, with a spread of 80-81.5, with 68 having been played so far. The spread for total break points is 925-940, with 780 so far, and total straight sets victories is 59.5-61, with 53 up until now.
For those prefer the soundtrack to the summer to consist of Test Match Special and the sound of leather on willow (rather than the noise of corporate noshing and female tennis players grunting like cavemen with hernias), there are some early bets to be had on the Ashes series. Extrabet have Series Win index, and with 25 for a Test win, 10 for a draw and 0 for a loss, England stand at 50-54, while Australia are on 65-69.
In terms of individual performances, top scorers are predicted to be Strauss and Ponting, with the Englishman on a series spread of 350-375, and the Aussie on 380-400. With the ball, the top men are Mitchell Johnson, who is predicted to pick up 19-20.5 wickets, while Jimmy Anderson has a slightly more modest spread of 16.5-18. Sadly, unlike in the tennis, the promptings of the head and the heart do not coincide.