Wimbledon
With Queen's done and dusted a day later than planned, the grass court season moves onto Wimbledon and spread bettors will be hoping for another entertaining Grand Slam. Spread punters will have noted that the first two Slams of the year have gone to different players and the Sporting Index traders have installed Roger Federer as favourite for the third.
After Andy Murray's performance at Queen's, some spread enthusiasts will be inclined to back him to follow Monday's triumph with another at SW19. The Scot's spread supporters might like to know that since the tournament's inception in 1979 there have six different players to do the Queen's/Wimbledon double – Rafa Nadal was the last to manage it in 2008.
Rafa Nadal won his tenth career Grand Slam at Roland Garros and spread buyers of his win index in London will be confident of the Spaniard defending his 2010 Wimbledon title. The world number one defeated Tomas Berdych in three sets last year, which secured his second Grand Slam on grass. Interestingly, between the Spaniard and Roger Federer the pair have won every Wimbledon title since 2002. Punters looking to sell Nadal's win index might have noted his poor showing at Queen's, where he suffered a 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 and 6-1 loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight.
Those spread punters looking to buy Novak Djokovic's win index for Wimbledon will be hoping he can continue his fine form this season that saw him go 37 matches unbeaten. The Serb pulled out of the Queen's Championship to rest and because of that his record on grass remains won 31 and lost 11. Djokovic has twice before reached the Wimbledon semis and was surprisingly beaten by Berdych in last year's tournament at the same stage.
The 2010 final was the first time in four years that it had been settled in three sets and the total games market reached 31 points. Spread punters who enjoy a bet on the total games market will likely recall the epic 2009 final between Federer and Andy Roddick as the total games sum reached 77 points. The X-courts spread market made up an impressive 361 points that year. Nadal's three set victory in last year's final only accumulated 77 points in Sporting Index's X-courts market. In the finals over the past eight years, all but one have featured at least one tie-break, five have featured two tie-breaks and three needed five sets to settle the outcome.
In the women's draw, most spread bettors will be wondering whether Serena Williams can make a successful return to SW19 after a year long absence. Those buying the younger Williams' win index will be pleased to hear that she has been victorious in the last two years and is now just one Wimbledon title behind her sister's haul of five.
Another intriguing factor for Serena's spread supporters will be that since 2000 there have only been two finals that have not featured a Williams sister. Sellers of the total games market for the women's final will be happy to find that the past four finals have only been two sets. The average total games number in that period currently stands at 19.25 games.
Related links:
