Sport is made for betting

Poor performances overnight from Nadal and Federer in the Cincinnati Masters. Nadal was beaten in straight sets by Mardy Fish, the most improved player on the tour in the past 18 months since he shed a bit of muscle and improved his court movement, and soon after Federer was comfortably beaten by Tomas Berdych. With the US Open coming up in just over a week's time, neither player is in great form - do they have it in them to bounce back for the big event, or is this the beginning of the end? I've said before I can't see Federer winning another Grand Slam singles titles, while Nadal started his senior career so early, his body will burn out quicker. Nadal did have massive blisters on his left hand, which can heal at least. Novak Djokovic just continues on his merry way at the moment, the value might be to find someone each-way on the other side of the draw. I will definitely be opposing the 'top 4 seeds all to make the semis' option - only one of them is any sort...

Another site taking my rants, raves, expertise and tips - the sports blog for The Tote in Tasmania. Total Domination The WTA has been criticised over the years for being dominated by one or two players, and rightly so. Now it’s the men’s turn and it’s very difficult to fathom. Victory in Montreal left Novak Djokovic with a 53-1 win-loss run for the year and he became the first player to win five Masters Series events in a calendar year, remarkably with three still to play. Ponder that for a moment – one loss in over 50 matches in an era containing two rivals regularly mentioned in GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) discussions. Federer and Nadal haven’t been injured, there hasn’t been a disease epidemic weakening his opponents, players haven’t been on strike – this is a guy fed up with life at number three and laying it all on the line...... Read more at The Tote SportsHub

Biggest 1.01 of the French Open so far goes to Nicolas Almagro, who should have put away Lukas Kubot in straight sets, but alas, he did not.... And yesterday, we had another one, OK for pennies at 1.01, but plenty fairly close to it, with Christina McHale holding two match points vs Sara Errani, on serve at 5-1 in the final set. Oops... Rafa Nadal had a bit of scare today - 1.01 for over £1m, then out to 1.43 when 2-1 down, then pulling up his socks and winning comfortably in the final set.

Stop playing tournaments in Russia - it's that simple. No respect for authority and importantly, no prosecutable laws for sporting corruption. The latest fix, which was actually a spoof manoeuvre, designed purely to gain better odds for the syndicate pulling all the strings. Tursunov was never going to lose this one but he's obviously been approached to tank the first set so the syndicate could get far better odds on the victory... From Tennisform again: 26 October 2010 17:14 Tursunov has been heavily opposed on Betfair from 1.23 to 1.9 (345K matched). 19:25 Tursunov came through in three sets against Michal Przysiezny in what appeared to be yet another predetermined outcome. The Russian rolled over for the first set before Przysiezny stopped trying in sets two and three. Tursunov won 82% of his service points but the stats are totally irrelevant. The Russian drifted hugely just prior to the off, to suggest that he wasn't going to win the first set, before the ...

Rafa Nadal, superhero. Well, a few punters might not be thinking that tonight. del Potro, having not won a set against the top three players before in abotu 8 matches, led by a set and a break, before Nadal fought back to a set all. Nadal then led 3-0 in the final set with two breaks. And that's when the money buyers would have stepped in. £421k at 1.01. OUCH! (Image shows percentage view, not prices)