Wimbledon

I knew Wimbledon was just around the corner when I looked out of the bedroom window this morning. There’s a gale blowing, rain is in the air and the missus is making some noise about driving into the middle of knowhere just to pick some fresh strawberries. I ask you, what are supermarkets for? I did swiftly remind her that there’s a World Cup on but she just gave me that look which says ‘you’ll do as you’re told’ so I guess we’ll be having ‘words’ later. Wimbledon this year, partcularly the men’s singles’ has a strange to feel to it. Normally, one wouldn’t hesitate to nominate Roger Federer as the winner and Rafael Nadal to meet him in the final but the six-times champion’s surprise defeat by Leyton Hewitt in Halle has just put a dent in Federer‘s air of invincibilty on grass, though the Swiss undoubtedly saves his best for the Grand Slams nowadays and bookmakers universally have him favourite in SW19 with 11/8 the best price you’ll be offered. The myth that Nadal couldn’t adapt his best game to grass was blown apart when the Spaniard beat Federer at Wimbledon in 2008. Nadal won the French Open without dropping a set to replace Federer as the current world number one and now seems to have fully recovered from the injury that prevented the defence of his Wimbledon crown last year. Defeat in the quarter-finals at Queen’s wasn’t envisaged but Nadal will have benefited from the few days’ extra rest and extrabet‘s 11/4 is very tempting for a man clearly at the height of his powers. Normally there would be a lot of hype surrounding Andy Murray‘s challenge but the Scot’s form seems to have diluted some of the media hysteria. Of course, that could work to Murray‘s advantage if the die-hards on Henman Hill aren’t hanging on his every shot. Undoubtedly, grass is among his favourite surfaces but the world number four does seem to battling some inner demons at present and he’s been on a disastrous run since making the Australian Open Final in January. An in-form Murray would have every chance of making the semi-finals but at 8/1 (sportingbet) he offers little value in his current frame of mind. Robin Soderling (20/1 with Skybet, Boylesports and Bodog) beat Federer in Paris and has been in good form this year but his record at Wimbledon is no better than average and if you were looking for an outsider Czech Tomas Berdych might be more interesting. A powerful server, the mental side of his game has improved in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years and he may now be ready to deliver on the promise he’s shown at Wimbledon previously. Berdych is a general 50/1 to win Wimbledon but can be backed at 14/1 on betfair to reach the final.

Britain’s Andy Murray  (3/1 at ExtraBet) looks to inject some new pace into his so far disappointing season, as he gets back on to the familiar grass surface. The AEGON Championships start the grass section of the ATP season, with a very strong field turning out at Queen’s for the pre-Wimbledon tournament. The pinnacle of grass court tennis and the third Grand Slam of the season, gets under way later in the month at Wimbledon, and very often, the tournament at Queens can be used as a form guide for how players may perform at the Grand Slam. Naturally, all of the British media hype will be surrounding Andy Murray, as the pressure builds upon him to land his first ever Grand Slam title. After reaching the Australian Open final, where he lost to Roger Federer, Murray has been struggling against himself for form, and the clay portion of the season has not helped him, as his record on the red stuff is not great. But now the lush grass will be under his feet, as he looks to dominate on home turf this year. Before the heavy business of Wimbledon, the AEGON Championships at Queens will provide some equally tough tasks, as Murray finds himself in a tough route to the final.

Murray is the defending champion at Queens, so there is incentive, if ever he needed any, to get back to the top of his game. There is no Roger Federer for this one, so Rafael Nadal (9/4 at ExtraBet), who is dominating the season at the moment being the king of clay, goes as number one seed for Queens, with Murray in at three. Murray has been practicing for about a week on grass ahead of the tournament, so should go into it pretty sharp, whereas Nadal who just won the French Open on the weekend, has to make an immediate adjustment from clay to grass. These little things could be all important in your ATP Tennis betting strategy for the week. But the Queens tournament has been dominated by two names in recent times, those of Andy Roddick (9/4 at ExtraBet) and Leyton Hewitt, having won eight of the last ten Queens tournaments between them. That makes Roddick a great bet, and he should be pretty fresh after sitting out a lot of the clay court section of the season. Roddick has won at Queens four times already, his last success coming in 2007, and overall in the tournament he has an impressive 29-4 match record. Some players just really like playing at certain tournaments, and Roddick here should not be ignored in the tennis betting. Of all the players at Queens this year, he has the most impressive record there by a country mile.

Nadal will command the majority of the betting as tournament favourite though. He made a clean sweep of all the Masters 1000 on clay this season, as well as putting the cherry on the cake by winning the French Open. He lifted the title at Queens in 2008, before Murray came on strong last year to win it. Nadal has a 9-2 match record at Queens, compared to a 9-3 from Murray. Second seed Novak Djokovic (9/2 at ExtraBet), who looked as if he was set for a good run at the French Open before a disappointing loss in the Quarter Finals against World 27 Jurgen Melzer, will be a strong challenger. Djokovic competes for only the third time at Queens, where he holds a 5-2 match record, with his best finish being losing finalist to Nadal in 2008. Those are the main challengers for the first grass court title of the ATP season, but one dangerous floater could be Croatia’s Marin Cilic (10/1 at ExtraBet). Cilic has not quite lived up to expectation this season, but does have two titles to his name and a 29-9 overall match record. Fell to finalist Robin Soderling at the French Open, but now that everything switches over to grass, he could be a stronger force in the build up to Wimbledon.

Looking at the draw for the AEGON Championships at Queens, Murray has his work cut out. He could meet Marin Cilic in the Quarter Finals of the draw, and then Rafael Nadal would likely be his opponent in the semi finals of the competition. Coming from the other half of the draw, the expected finalist then would be second seed Novak Djokovic. While it is not the easiest task to defend his title, this is exactly the sort of tough mental challenge that Murray needs ahead of Wimbledon. He need to be pitting himself against the very best, and a confidence boosting win over any of them will put him in good stead. This is an important tournament in terms of the grass season, and why it attracts so many of the top players. Five of the World’s top ten go at Queens this week, and while the domineering Nadal is favourite in tennis betting, perhaps the time for Murray to come good, is now. Has he been saving himself to win his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon?

Sports betting week 29 June - 5 July

Date	Sport	Org.	Venue	Event
22Jun-4 Jul		WTA	Wimbledon	The Championships, English Open
22Jun-5 Jul		ATP	Wimbledon	The Championships, English Open
3-26 Jul		FIFA	USA/Mexico	CONCACAF Gold Cup
4-26 Jul		UCI	France	Tour de France

Sports betting week 22 - 28 June

Date	Sport	Org.	Venue	Event
14-28Jun		FIFA	South Africa	Confed-Cup
22Jun-4 Jul		WTA	Wimbledon	The Championships, English Open
22Jun-5 Jul		ATP	Wimbledon	The Championships, English Open

Wimbledon always creates a media frenzy in the UK but it’s a long time since the country had genuine prospects of one of their own landing a singles title. Andy Murray, current world number three and the third seed in SW19, is now no bigger than 9-4 (Betfred and Paddy Power) after the withdrawal of defending champion Rafael Nadal. Murray, who had a confidence-boosting tournament success at Queens last week, was in the same half of the draw as the Spaniard so, theoretically at least, the way is now clear for the Scot to meet Roger Federer in the final under Centre Court’s new retractable roof on the fourth of July. Murray has had the better of Federer in recent meetings but the Swiss star did look back to his best when capturing the French Open for the first time earlier this month and he’s even stronger on grass. Totesport‘s 10-11 is the best price you’ll get on Federer regaining his Wimbledon crown but it’s really difficult to look beyond this pair if both are anywhere near their best over the fortnight. The women’s singles is more open according to the bookmakers, but all are in agreement that one of the Williams sisters will be taking home the silver salver. Serena is the current market leader at a best 11-4 with Totesport, while elder sibling Venus can be backed at a general 10-3. The pair have dominated Wimbledon since the turn of the century, capturing seven titles between them. Venus holds the upper hand with five but Serena is generally regarded as the more reliable nowadays. Not surprisingly, neither have made much of an impact during the clay-court season but grass is the surface on which both excel and their likely semi-final meeting on Centre Court would almost certainly be another titanic struggle. If you are intent on backing an outsider, rising Danish star Caroline Wozniacki is developing at a rate of knots and could go a lot further than her quote of 25-1 from Totesport suggests she might but Serena Williams is again likely to be the one holding all the aces.

The end of the war in ’45 saw the resumption of competitive football in the form of the F.A. Cup.

During hostilities the league set-up was two "first divisions", North and South and lesser regional leagues. On this occasion the two finalists were both from the Southern Section, Charlton Athletic and Derby County. 98,000 saw they game which went into extra time, but not without a couple of "firsts". Jacky Stamp, (Derby centre forward), shot for goal only for the ball to burst in mid-air. Just as it had done in a regional league game between the same sides the previous week.

First blood went to Derby when Charlton’s left half Bert Turner put thru’ his own. Almost immediately Charlton went on the attack and Turner equalised. The first person to get on both score sheets in an F.A. Cup Final.The  game went to extra-time, for only the second time at Wembley. Derby went on to win 4 – 1.Charlton gained their revenge next season. beating second division Burnley 1 – 0 in extra-time.

No team dominated in the early years after ’45 until Newcastle won 3 times between ’51 and ’55. In amongst these successes was the MATTHEWS FINAL. Bolton lead 3 –1 with some 22 mins remaining. Matthews completed one of his dazzling runs with a cross for Mortenson to score his and the teams second goal. Mortenson went on to score the only Cup Final hat-trick at the old stadium.

The next outstanding happening was in the 55/56 final,  when City, having lost the previous year, beat Birmingham 3 – 1. With their goalkeeper, Bert Trautman playing for the last 20 mins with a broken neck.The club doctor stated that the slightest jolt to the neck could have paralysed if not killed him. I watched that game on T V and Trautman was awesome.

Two years later Man Utd lost to Bolton Wanderers. This was three months after the Munich disaster. United were allowed to sign players who had already played in that seasons cup games. The only time it has been allowed. Not surprisingly Bolton ran out 2 – 0 winners. United’s second consecutive Cup final defeat. They made amends beating Leicester City 3 -1 in 62/63.

The sixties really belonged to ‘Spurs with a double success in 60/61 and 61/62. Follwed by a third in  66/67.

The 64/65 final would add a new name to the trophy now matter who had won. It turned out to be one of Liverpool‘s numerous successes. Leeds had to wait until 71/72 for their first ever Cup Final win. The following season when they attempted to retain the trophy, they were surpisingly beaten by a Porterfield goal for Sunderland.
No one team dominated during the Seventies, and the start of the Eighties saw three years of replays. ‘Spurs winning the first two of these for yet another double final success.

Everton won in 83/84 and were beaten in each of the following two seasons. The second of which saw the first ever Merseyside Derby Final. Repeated three seasons later, when Liverpool  also repeated their victory. The shock of the decade came in 87/88 when WIMBLEDON beat all the odds and Liverpool by a single goal.
‘Spurs saw in the next decade with a 2 – 1 defeat of Notts Forest.

The next nineteen years have been a virtual monopoly fo the "BIG FOUR". Only twice has an "outsider" won the Cup. Everton 94/95 and last year Portsmouth were successful.

When the F.A. Cup is mentioned the thoughts often tend to wander to the few clubs who have also achieved the Cup and League Double. With some hundred and twenty finals decided only six teams have achieved the Double. Preston, Aston Villa, ‘Spurs and Liverpool have one success each Whilst Arsenal and Man. Utd have three each.

The spread of these successes shows no pattern whatsoever. Two between 1889 and 1897 then a blank until 1961. A ten year gap to the next and then another barren spell until 1986.Then there was a fistful (four) between 1994 and 1999. The last occasion was 2002.

Although the "Big Four" appear to have most things their own way, none seems to be able to really dominate as Man. Utd did in the nineties.