[gregm]

Some people may have already read this, it is 3 years old but I just found this in wall street journal archive. WSJ actually had very good tennis coverage, especially around the bigger events.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124225824919117313.html

[shari91]

I'm pretty sure Bychkova got tuned for not reporting this. Too early in the morning for me to remember what her punishment was but the WTA definitely punished her somehow for not disclosing. Great article.

[gregm]

I like that quote from the russian punter "I always like to bet on good players against bad ones." Good point.lol

"To gather intelligence, Mr. Avilov travels to three to six small tournaments a year to watch lower-ranked players, chat up members of their entourages and sleuth into their personal lives. "Just knowing a player better helps," he says."

Some of these lower ranked tennis players are pretty easy to talk to on twitter, the part about Bychova really wanting a louis vuitton purse and this guy contacting her. Stuff in this article is really going to make me wonder during some of these lower ranked matches. I shall be contacting the Tennis Integrity Unit quite often over some of my losing wagers. lol

[shari91]

I like that quote from the russian punter "I always like to bet on good players against bad ones." Good point.lol

"To gather intelligence, Mr. Avilov travels to three to six small tournaments a year to watch lower-ranked players, chat up members of their entourages and sleuth into their personal lives. "Just knowing a player better helps," he says."

Some of these lower ranked tennis players are pretty easy to talk to on twitter, the part about Bychova really wanting a louis vuitton purse and this guy contacting her. Stuff in this article is really going to make me wonder during some of these lower ranked matches. I shall be contacting the Tennis Integrity Unit quite often over some of my losing wagers. lol

Yeah I mean when you look at some of the matches in Eastern Europe and there are like 6 people in the crowd, all sitting together, all seem to be using a smartphone and just looking all around dodgy, it's not too hard to figure out what's going on when the odds move dramatically. That's why if I'm bored or can't sleep I'll just watch 365 live betting on the non televised matches over there. The odds can swing so much it's pretty hysterical. But yeah the world's way different now with social media. I really don't think there's a way in a sport like tennis where it's so individual and many of these players are coming from hard backgrounds to police it. Cash is cash.

[gregm]

You probably have seen this but if you havent, you should read this shari.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3246371

Its about Martin Fuhrer, a huge punter from Austria .This is a quote from the article. "Very very much money". I like that

"In 2003 and 2004, Führer bet more than $2.5 million on at least 200 matches.


One of his favorite betting targets was Irakli Labadze, a 6'2" southpaw from the Republic of Georgia. Labadze had moved to Austria after going pro in 1998 and was still trying to crack the Top 50 when Führer started to befriend him. "I watch his practice," says Führer. "I have lunch with him after. If I meet him at a tournament, he asks me, 'Would you like to go to a cinema?' We watch a movie, have dinner together."


As Führer paints it, their association sounds innocent enough, but some players were wary of Labadze. Justin Gimelstob, an 11-year veteran who retired last year, remembers being pitted against him at Wimbledon in 2003, when Labadze had such a serious shoulder injury Gimelstob says he wondered why his opponent even bothered to show up.


In a recent interview on Russian TV, Labadze, a 26-year-old with a 49–81 career singles record, acknowledged knowing Führer. But Führer uses cold logic to explain why he would make money betting against a friend. "Labadze is not the best player," he says, pointing out that the Georgian knew the odds were often against him. "If you bet against him, you will win very, very much money."

[Blax0r]

Very interesting read; since I'm in the US, I don't hear much about tennis betting. I wonder where it ranks in terms of yearly total betting amount; I imagine it'd be behind "football" (soccer for me), but is it #2?

[gregm]

I am american as well too blaxor and its really pretty much of a joke betting on tennis in vegas for the most part, at least in terms of volume. The wall street journal article had a quote from the las vegas sports consultants that said tennis makes up a little less than 2% of the total amount wagered on sports in Nevada casinos each year, i owuldnt be surprised to see that golf gets more volume. Totally different story in europe and aussie/asia, should be interesting to watch the volume at pinnacle this year with the problems they have had the past year and at betfair with the changes they are making in Europe.

[beefcake]

Greg, I read the article ..great stuff..2 weeks to go man!!

[gregm]

I am so ready for tennis beefy I can taste it. Going to get oncourt updated, getting stats together, paid up tennis insight. Tempted to play Ankara but I doubt it. Check out Jeff sackmanns model and blog this year, heavytopspin.com is his blog, tennisabstract.com is a stats site you can spend hours with. Sackmann is one of the better math based tennis analysts out there, great sites for stats and analysis, I just hope he keeps at it this year.

I first saw him on the wall street journal and added his blog to my google reader. The Wall street journal has some of the best tennis coverage out there, but they just tend to stick to bigger tourneys.

[beefcake]

Hmmm..sounds like a Ken Pom of tennis..Maybe we can catch on before the whole world finds out..