Tennis Trading News – Friday 20th April 2012

All eyes have been on Monte Carlo this week, as the World’s top men have been battling it out to take the first big clay court title of the year.

So far this week

Rafa Nadal has won this event seven times in succession; an accomplishment which stands alone in professional tennis. After suffering defeat in his first ever Monte Carlo outing, back in 2003, the Spaniard has not lost a match since, and victory here this week would see him returning in 2013 on the back of a staggering 10-year undefeated streak.

There were question marks over Nadal’s fitness ahead of this event, and although he came through in straight sets against Nieminen on Wednesday, the 30-year-old from Finland did cause problems and held his serve better than most expected he would.
However, an emphatic 6-1, 6-1 victory over Kukushkin in his second match, proved that Nadal is still the man to be beaten and he’ll go into the weekend confident of an eighth straight success.

In terms of tennis trading, the big winner of the week so far, came about in the Djokovic v Dolgopolov match on Thursday afternoon. We highlighted this match as having good trading potential earlier in the week and it didn’t let us down, as the ‘Final Serve’ technique came up trumps again.

Djokovic’s mind didn’t seem to be on the task in the opening set against the talented Ukrainian, but after losing 6-2, the World No.1 was always likely to make a comeback. Trading on a Djokovic win when his odds were at their longest, at the end of the first set, was the wise tennis trading move and the profits quickly came in as the Serb took the second set 6-1. Things were a little tense at 4-4 in the decider but, as expected, Novak pushed on and booked himself a place in the last eight.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori served up more proof that the ‘Final Serve’ technique really is a winner. A disastrous first set for Berdych, saw him go down 6-2, but from then on in there was only one winner as the Czech turned the match on its head.

Any traders using the tennis scalper technique this week will have been particularly pleased with the serving under pressure from Gilles Simon. In his match with Tipsarevic, he faced nine break points and saved eight of them, frequently finding his way back to deuce from 15-40 positions. Nadal and Djokovic have also been serving well in pressure situations, and it’s definitely worth scalping on these two as we move into the weekend.

Upcoming Matches

Friday’s quarter final line-up promises plenty of entertainment and some tight matches for traders to work with.
In the first match of the day, Tomas Berdych will face Andy Murray. The British No.1 will come in as the favourite with the tennis bookmakers but the pair are evenly matched on this surface. Just last October, in Paris, Murray took the opening set off Berdych before the Czech bounced back to defeat the Scot in three sets. Friday’s match could go either way, so keep your eye on who takes the first set.

There’s an all French affair later in the day as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga faces Gilles Simon, and with both men holding onto their serve so well this week, this is a match to keep a close eye on and look out for scalping and RYP opportunities.

Djokovic and Nadal should have smooth paths through to the semis as they face Haase and Warwrinka respectively.

The semi-final to stay glued to on Saturday is most likely going to be Djokovic v Murray or Berdych. Djokovic has already had three contests with Murray this season, the first of which being the epic semi-final in Melbourne.

Meanwhile, we could be in for one of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the season on Sunday afternoon if Djokovic and Nadal meet. Nadal’s seven year unbeaten run could go up against the man who has defeated him in their last seven meetings. Another epic could lie in wait and the ChampWinnings technique always comes into its own in these close encounters.

The weekend’s top tennis trading matches:

Monte Carlo

Friday’s Matches
Andy Murray (3) v Tomas Berdych (6) – Quarter final)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (4) v Gilles Simon (9) – Quarter final

Possible Weekend Matches

Saturday
Novak Djokovic (1) v Andy Murray (3) – Semi-final

Sunday
Novak Djokovic (1) v Rafa Nadal (2) – Final