Sports Betting Blog

The talented and young Spaniard who now sits atop of the ATP World Rankings has already placed foot on Wimbledon for the third Grand Slam of the season. He is going to be taking action on day 2 of the English tournament. Rafa Nadal has been absolutely outstanding over the clay-surfaced tournaments this season. His recent win against Robin Soderling in the Roland Garros Grand Slam is just clear proof of what a great moment he is going through.

It seems as if his knee injuries are well pass him, and now, the No 2. seeded and top ranked player in the tournament is ready to take on the natural surface. The All England Club had offered to top seed to Roger Federer based mostly on his previous record at Wimbledon. The left handed Spaniard gave no signs of challenging the organizers decision, but we are certain that he is going to give it his best shot to prove them wrong.

This could be a great chance for the King of Clay to repeat his 2008 feat when he won both the Roland Garros and the Wimbledon Tournament in the same season. He already knows what it takes to defeat Roger Federer, perhaps one of the most dominant players the English Tournament has ever seen. He took his 2008 championship game in one of the best matches the sport has come to know against Federer. Perhaps the two top ranked and top seeded players will manage to give us a revisit of that incredible final.

Nadal first game in the tournament will be against Japan’s Kei Nashikori. The 20-year-old player made it to the tournament via a Wild Card, and is more then ready to prove that he has finally made it back from his elbow surgery last summer. But it is not a task for the light-hearted to defeat Nadal so early in the tournament.

Nadal has made it quite clear that he really would love to win in Wimbledon. He really covets to add this tournament to his 7 Grand Slam collection. Nadal has managed to make it all the way to the final in his last three appearances, and if things keep going as they have, the Spaniard might just get this great record once again.

If you want to take part in the action, don’t miss out the Wimbledon betting lines at Sportsbook Industry leader BetIAS.com as they are offering great daily matchups on for the complete tournament. As of press time, Nadal is a clear favorite to take over the Japanese player Nashikori. Unless you really are into long-shots, Nadal at ML-4000 with a comeback of +1600 for Nashikori, I would stay away from that first matchup. The good thing is that there plenty of other interesting head to head props bets for the whole tournament.

There are some big names out there on the field. Federer had some trouble, extensive trouble, earlier today in his tournament opener. It’s very hard to predict who will make it to the finals. As big fans of the sport, we can only hope to see once more both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer take a go over the pristine grass of Centre Court at Wimbledon for the Championship Game.

Roland Garros officially finishes the clay-surface spring tournaments in the ATP professional calendars. It is also the only Grand Slam tournament still played over clay ever since the tournament was first played in the Stade Roland Garros back in 1928.

It has the widest TV broadcasting of any regular ATP event, surpassing in ratings each of the other Grand Slams. The slow playing surface, the five-set men’s single matches without a tiebreak in the final set has made this one of the most demanding tennis events in the world. The Roland Garros will begin on Sunday May 21, 2010.

The clay surface slows down the ball and makes it bounce higher then on other tennis courts. This takes out some of the advantage that most player who rely on big serves and strong volleys have over their opponent. The living proof of this condition might be Pete Sampras. The American player, despite his immense success in the sport, was never able to win the Roland Garros Tournament. Even more, he never made it to the Final. John McEnroe, Venus Williams, Boris Becker, Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport are among the players that have never won in the French Open despite their success in other tournaments.

This year, Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin are back in the professional tournament, and are looking quite strong for the second Grand Slam of the season. Two year ago, Nadal finished Roger Federer’s good run. He allowed the No. 1 ranked player in the world only four games. That is the fewest number of won by a top seed player in any Grand Slam. This was the Spaniards fourth consecutive title in the French Open. He had played 28 games in the clay courts of the Roland Garros Open. And had won them all.

Last year, he lost his first game in Paris. He was suffering from tendinitis in both of his knees and just couldn’t hold up to Robin Soderling in the fourth round. This time around, the King of Clay has won each of the previous clay tournaments in the ATP circuit, and at ML-275 favorite in the Odds to win Roland Garros. He has already won in Rome. He took Roger Federer down in Madrid. All there is left is to win at the French Open.

Justine Henin had won 4 Roland Garros Championships in 5 years. She had won 17 straight matches. And then it all went south. The talented player had to take an early retirement. Her heart was not in the game. She was mentally and physically tired. Two weeks ago, Henin won in Stuttgart. This was her first tournament since her comeback. Now she is looking strong to keep on with her legacy at the French Open.

Between the two, Henin and Nadal have 8 titles. That  is one more then the field combined. Their dominance in the clay courts of Paris is undeniable. Perhaps we will just have to wait for the tournament to begin and see if both talented players can live up to their expectations. This could be their chance to win their 5th title. There is no reason why they shouldn’t.

Tennis fans around the globe had to wait one year but finally two of the best players in the world, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will meet again in their second-consecutive final. Last year, Federer was able to take down The King of Clay in an exciting Final Match. Rafael Nadal went down 4-6, 4-6. It was the first time that Nadal had lost to Federer since the semifinals of the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup.

Last year, Nadal suffered from injury-related troubles that forced him to step out of some of the Tour’s biggest competitions. This forced him to relinquish his 2nd place in the ATP rankings, and fell third. He had been in the Top-2 positions ever since 2005. Still, Nadal seems to have made an important comeback. He has shown no visual signs of pain in his last couple of games. It will seem that Rafa´s knee tendinitis might not end up being a big issue this time around.

Federer has come from a great season. He has already  won the 2010 Australian Open, but then got into trouble in the BNP Paribas and the Sony Ericson Open where he didn’t make it pass the first rounds.

Nadal, on the other hand, did not play at his best in the Austalian Open, but he has been quite dominant during the last tow major events. He won the Monte-Carlo Masters final against Fernando Verdasco. With this he became the first player in the Open Era to win a title for 6-straight years. If Nadal can pull it together and defeat Federer in the Madrid Masters’ Final, he would regain the No.2 in the ATP rankings.

Nadal is 14-0 this season in clay surfaces. If he is able to keep up the good work, Roger Federer is expected to have to go into overdrive to keep the Spaniard from beating him in two straight sets. Shall he win this 1000 Masters Series event, Nadal will have outshined Andre Agassi (who won 17 of these titles) and hold the new record for Masters 1000 championships at 18. Federer comes right behind him at 16.

As of press time, Nadal is the favorite at ML-300 to win the Final of the Madrid Open. Roger Federer might end up being a good bet in case he can pull-off the upset. BetIAS.com has a good comeback at ML+240 for the Swede. Don´t expect lines to move too much unless Nadal is defeated at the Final. As of press time, Rafa Nadal is a ML-250 odds to win at Roland Garros, but if things don´t go as expected in the Madrid Open, it might be a good idea to keep an eye out for any movements in the Odds to win Roland Garros.