Betdistrict.com
Wimbledon second round and so far the men's side of the tournament pretty much gets a rating of "as expected". No big surprises considering the surface and it seems like the favorites will once again run the table at least for a while.
This match sees 31 year old Spaniard Verdasco take on talented young Austrian Dominic Thiem. Verdasco has had a mediocre year so far and playing on grass it seems rather unlikely that his year is going to improve much. He is currently 43 in the rankings, but he is a former top 10 player with a lot of experience and incredible potential. Grass is, at least in my opinion, his weakest surface. He has had very good results on hard courts and decent to good on clay but grass really doesn't seem to favor him. This year on grass he beat Daniel Gimeno Traver and Roberto Bautista Agut (clay court players by and large) and lost to Robin Haase and Andy Murray. In the first round at Wimbledon he defeated Martin Klizan in a marathon match that ended 13-11 in the decider. To be clear, I don't really believe the fatigue can be issue in this match, Verdasco is a very fit player but the game against Klizan showed weaknesses in Verdasco's game. His serve is solid, his first serve is actually great consistently going over 200 km/h, he gets a lot of free points. He still has one of the best forehands in the world and his net play has improved significantly over the last couple of years. His two main problems are the backhand which is not as dangerous and prone to mistakes and his inconsistency. He is capable of playing superb tennis and following that up with amateur level mistakes. His confidence is not that great at the moment and he is not playing his best tennis.
Dominic Thiem is seen by many as one of the most talented young players on the tour. At 21 years of age he is number 30 in the world. I agree that he does have a lot of potential but the truth in my opinion is that he is a long way away from challenging top players. In general, the new generation in man's tennis seems a bit lacking. Thiem has had a pretty bad season on grass and it is clear that he doesn't seem very at home on this surface. He lost to Dolgopolov, Nishikori and Misha Zverev only managing a win against Malek Jaziri. In the first round at Wimbledon he beat veteran Dudi Sela in four set after what was in my opinion and uneven performance. After hearing this Thiem does not sound that good but the truth is this bet for me at least has value. Thiem can play a lot better than he did against Sela and even there Sela managed to put up a good challenge in the first two sets. Thiem has a good serve, not really getting him a lot of free points but giving him an advantage on the second shot. He can hit the ball well from both sides although he does not have a shot that can compare to Verdasco's forehand. Thiem should have one clear target: try to force Verdasco to use his backhand and attack him on the other side. This game should be close and the odds on Thiem are just too high. Verdasco is probably the favorite here but i'd give him around 1.70 as the correct odd. For 2.73 Thiem is correct in my opinion and gives a good chance of trading if he can manage to get the upper hand in the beginning. I see this ending in four of five sets.
Pick: Dominic Thiem to win
Odds: 2.73
Bookmaker: ➾ Pinnacle
Stake: 6 units
Tipster: Ares
| TIPSTER: Ares | Total profit: +12.81 | Tips won: 21 |
| Country: Romania | Total yield: +4.78% | Tips lost: 22 |
| Speciality: Snooker | Total picks: 44 | Tips pushed: 1 |
| 12.08 | • ASA Targu Mures - ACS Poli Timisoara | 1.87 | 8 | ❌ | -8 |
| 12.08 | • Dominika Cibulkova - Alize Cornet | 1.57 | 9 | ❌ | -9 |
| 09.08 | • Fergal O'Brien - Luca Brecel | 2.2 | 4 | ❌ | -4 |
| 09.08 | • Steaua Bucuresti - Dinamo Bucuresti | 4.45 | 2 | ❌ | -2 |
| 08.08 | • CSU Craiova - Concordia Chaijna | 2.32 | 4 | ✅ | +5.28 |
| 07.08 | • Luca Brecel - Nigel Bond | 1.8 | 5 | ✅ | +4 |
| 06.08 | • Astra Giurgiu - West Ham United | 1.73 | 10 | ✅ | +7.3 |
| 09.07 | • Garbine Muguruza - Agnieszka Radwanska | 2 | 7 | ❌ | -7 |
| 07.07 | • Bryan B./Bryan M. - Bopanna R./Mergea | 4 | 5 | ✅ | +15 |
| 01.07 | • Fernando Verdasco - Dominic Thiem | 2.73 | 6 | ❌ | -6 |
