posted August 8, 2008 at 15:07 EST in Tennis Props
Nadal’s Moment of Zen in Beijing
by BetUS Staff
Beijing, China – Olympic men singles tennis betting is almost upon us! Raise your hand if you are as excited as I am about the upcoming two weeks of tennis wagering at BetUS. Now I have made no bones about being a huge Nadal fan. There is nothing I would enjoy more than having my Olympics future wager on Nadal becoming golden in Beijing come through, adding another accolade to a sensational 2008 season for the young Spaniard. But as the Olympic men singles tennis draw was released earlier today, Rafael Nadal (ranking rise to No.1 imminent) dealt a tough quarter, his bid to plough through the rounds appears to be no walk in the park.
Your moment of Zen: Disbelievers, Rafael Nadal has really stepped it up this year. The Spaniard went on a 32-match winning streak that saw him pick up five titles spanning three different surfaces – Hamburg, Roland Garros, Stella Artois Championships, Wimbledon and Toronto – before seeing his run ended in the Cincinnati Masters semis by Novak Djokovic .
So if you are not buying what he is selling, sure cling on to some fallible hope that his knees will give out or that he will burn out soon; that one-dimensional flat-ballers like Sam Querrey will get him; that Wimbledon was in fact a clay court and he hardly beat anyone worth mentioning during his amazing run; that he will run out of steam in the second half of the season producing zilch, slink off into obscurity and he will never achieve anything at the Olympics – or the US Open for that matter. Sports bettors: heck, lest we forget, he is only 22! And has lifted 30 career ATP titles including five Grand Slams!
The point is Nadal is the best player this year and he appears to be far from over with being amazing. I would not put a gold medal past him. Heck ( I am saying that a lot I know) but even the bookies agree he is a serious contender, tipping him at +160 in the Olympic futures wagering market at BetUS – giving him even more favourable odds than Federer or Djokovic , both considered the best hard courters on the circuit.
Nadal is riding an amazing wave and popular opinion is he will surf this pipeline to the very end of the season. He has had his best clay court season. His best grass court season and so far he is in the midst of his best hard court season.
That being all said, the tough draw then. The draw produced mouth-watering betting prospects in the bottom half of the draw. Tenderly perched in the bottom half of the draw is the tours best three players – Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray (in my opinion, but show me anyone who would disagree with me). Either one of the three rivalries can feature as a potential Olympic semi-final betting morsel.
But for the purpose of this piece – it being a discourse on Nadal’s section of the draw – then the tennis betting public en route to betting on the final movement would come across the Nadal/Murray rivalry in the quarters before a semis encounter with Nadal-Djokovic or Murray-Djokovic or one of the three and some usurper (oh please no!).
Cincinnati Masters champion Andy Murray is a real potential quarterfinal challenger for Nadal. He solidified his bid by winning the title in Cincinnati beating Djokovic in the process – who in turn had beat Nadal. (It seems their paths are inextricably linked of late).
Murray has long been a contender for a top fiver. Everyone in sports betting circles knew it. The top players themselves knew it would be only a matter of time before they welcomed him into their fold. He even knew it, but just did not know how to make it happen. But this year, Murray seems to have made the right decisions in terms of coaching and employing the staff to help him achieve this longed for ambitions. He had previously flitted into the top 10, but inconsistent results saw him booted out. His first major victory last week in Cincinnati saw him ascend to No.6 in the world.
Nadal and Murray face stiff opposition in the first three rounds before they can cross racquets. Nadal opens against Potito Starace, and could possibly face Lleyton Hewitt in the second round and Radek Stepanek, Igor Andreev or Sam Querrey in the third round. Murray faces Yen-Hsun Lu in the opening round and possibly would come up against Ivan Ljubicic in the second round, Frank Dancevic or Stanislas Wawrinka in the third.
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Nila Amerova is a freelance sports writer and regular contributor to the BetUS.com Locker Room.
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