Wimbledon Update
by Bodog Sportsbook | Jun 24 2009
Is
Jesse Levine the future of American tennis?
Levine is one of the sport's rising young stars - except he has no star power. Levine has cast a rather small shadow on the tennis world at 5-foot-9 and all of 150 pounds. Yet the 21-year-old southpaw is into the second round of the Wimbledon Championships for the second year in a row, upsetting No. 14 seed Marat Safin in four sets on Tuesday to cash in at +250.
If anyone can hold onto his betting value after knocking off one of the top seeds at the most important event in tennis, it's the No. 133-ranked Levine. He represents the stereotype of the small athlete, and his Canadian-Jewish heritage is certainly uncommon to the sport. The sharp bettor is the one who can exploit the public's tendency to see things in stereotype. Levine is, in fact, a highly skilled player who has been coached by the best in Florida since moving south at age 13. His footwork is excellent and he can hit every shot in the book.
Make sure to check
Bodog Sports for the freshest lines on Thursday's second-round matchup (a 7:00 a.m. Eastern start) between Levine and Pablo Cuevas, the No. 125-ranked doubles specialist from Argentina. Cuevas earned his first-ever trip to the second round of a major tournament by beating Christophe Rochus in a marathon five-set match, coming back from 0-2 down and winning the fifth set 11-9.
Other than Levine, it was pretty chalky after the first two days at ye olde All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The only other Top 25 seed to fall from the men's draw was No. 25 Dmitry Tursunov (-240), but there was no action on his first-round loss to Mischa Zverev (+175) since Tursunov retired in the third set with a sore left ankle.
Here's how the top three Wimbledon favorites have fared thus far:
1.
Roger Federer: The five-time master of the SW19 grass easily cruised past Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 to cash in at -20000. Federer was 5-7 to win Wimbledon at the open and has since moved to 4-7.
2.
Andy Murray: Scotland's favorite son was -10000 to put away Robert Kendrick in the first round, but it took some work before Murray prevailed 7-5, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. Murray has slipped from 12-5 to 11-4 on the Wimbledon championship market. Compare that to the 7-4 price the punters in Britain are willing to pay.
3.
Novak Djokovic: We did mention it was going to be tough against Julien Benneteau, and the French native put up a good fight before losing 7-6, 6-7, 2-6, 4-6 to Djokovic (-2000). The No. 4 player in the world saw his Wimbledon odds drop from 12-1 to 14-1 at press time.
The playing field was just as tilted toward the favorites on the women's side of the draw. The Top 20 seeds all survived their first-round matchups; the highest seed to fall was No. 21 Patty Schnyder, who was actually the +120 underdog to Ai Sugiyama (-160) and eventually the loser at 4-6, 4-6.
As for the Williams sisters, they're already putting some distance between themselves and the rest of the championship market.
1.
Serena Williams: Serena was priced at -8000 in her first-round matchup with Neuza Silva (+1250), and the two-time Wimbledon champion was a fairly quick winner at 6-1, 7-5. She's moved from 9-4 to 7-4 to win her third title.
2.
Venus Williams: The older of the two sisters was even more dominant, beating Stefanie Vogele 6-3, 6-2 and delighting chalkeaters at -3300. Venus is 5-2 to win Wimbledon for the sixth time, up from 3-1 at the open and still a bargain compared to her sister. Venus is the favorite at various London-based bookmakers and tied with Serena at others.
3.
Maria Sharapova: The 2004 champ was originally 8-1 to reclaim her title, but slipped to 10-1 after beating Viktoria Kutuzova 7-5, 6-4. Joining Sharapova at 10-1 odds (down from 9-1 at the open) is Dinara Safina; the current world’s No. 1 was pegged at -5000 in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Lourdes Dominguez Lino.
