EP36's Tennis Elbow

[EaglesPhan36]

Yeah they don't have the Dallas Challenger up yet, noticed that. I continue to be surprised that Bovada is really leading the Challenger market right now as far as getting lines up. Prices still poor on favorites mostly (at least the larger ones - ones in the -115 to -150 range seem closer to 5Dimes prices), but good for the dogs.

I'm sure Brands will drive me nuts.

[Yezzir]

Before I get wasted face, in going with the preview for tonight ...

Caloundra Challenger: Laaksonen +175
Klaasen could come out and whip this Swiss teenager, but after Klaasen's disheartening 6-2, 6-0 loss to Adam Feeney in Burnie ... no way in hell I think he deserves to be favored this large. You look at this career recently on this surface and he has lost to some very questionable sorts/low ranked guys.

Great tip bro.

[Yezzir]

5d must be slow putting up challenger matches. kamke is nowhere to be found

Kamke isn't on Bet365 either.

Edit - Ahhh, he's up now!

[EaglesPhan36]

Blog update for the Dallas Challenger. Much obliged if you check it out and spread the word about the blog.

http://tenniselbowblog1.blogspot.com/2012/02/dallas-surface-indoor-hard-httpwww.html

[EaglesPhan36]

Challenger Parlay #2: Levine + Matosevic [-140]
Levine draws the clay courter Struvay in Dallas. Should be a good edge for the American seeing as Struvay has never played a match in an indoor hard court. While Levine isn't a power player, his left game showed very well on the Challenger circuit on this surface in 2011. He made successive finals appearances and won a title. Struvay is transitioning from clay whereas Levine has had prep time here being off since Melbourne. Matosevic draws Lemke in Caloundra. While Matosevic has not started strong in 2012 [0-3], Lemke hasn't won since last May - a string of ten straight losses. Lemke did win one here last year when his opponent retired in the 1st set, but it's hard to see his confidence high here. Matosevic though will need to serve well and not think he can win just by showing up.

[blackbeSSt]

now 5d has kamke up. would you throw him in with the above 2?

[gregm]

Great blog EP. I wish there was a way to sign up using your email, I rarely check my google reader .

I will probably be on Levine as well, I have so much trouble getting excited for these tourneys like Dallas where there probably wont be any streams out there. Why does tennis channel show reruns of Montpellier tonight when there is a live tourney in the states going on. I realize Dallas is a small challenger tourney but come on, reruns of the semifinals from Montpellier??? Dallas is one of the bigger circuit stops for the usta, and tennis channel is an American channel.

[cappoblanca]

Hey, EP
I grew up in Dallas from the 50's to the 80's and played varsity for UT at Dallas from 1974-78. Also, my best memories were seeing Borg, Newcombe, Ashe, Panatta, Nastase, Vilas and Dick Stockton play in the WTC during the late 70's on the SMU campus. The championship final in the 1972 WTC between Laver and Ken Rosewall was up until then the best-ending match in memory, Rosewall won the finals with a sliced crosscourt return on match point in 1972. Look at the results: Rosewall over Laver 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 (5). As a youngster I would play on the Highland Park High courts and sneek onto the only 2 clay courts on the SMU campus on weekends, sometimes playing for 4-5 hours without interruption. Here in NYC, I must now pay about $25 per hour or join a club with an initiation approximately $8-10 K.

[EaglesPhan36]

Nice cappo. I live in North Richland Hills. I was going to go to the Challenger in Las Colinas in March, did not even remember about this one until I saw the draw yesterday. Probably a better field here, but I am excited to go in about a month - players list for that is supposed to be out in another week or so, I think.

Agreed greg about the lack of matches shown. This is one of those down weeks for ATP with Davis Cup later this week. I think it's hard for some of these Challengers to get enough sponsors maybe, but most of the US-based ones all have pretty solid sponsors so really no reason they shouldn't have some sort of streaming.

I think Kamke is worth using. If he loses to Bhambri, he ought to drop down to playing futures.

[Yezzir]

Kamke

[EaglesPhan36]

Dropping a set to Bhambri. Wow time to think about joining the WTA fukko. Best get your shit straight quick.

[tevari]

Pretty sick

[That Dude Nate]

I registered just to say

[ChrisBHT]

I followed on Kamke and Brands and added it to my parlay of Gicquel and Kudla. Won with Brands and Gicquel now I gotta sweat out the third sets of these other two...

[Yezzir]

Come on Kamke, finish him off.

[SlowNsteady]

Does anybody speak German? I bet Kamke=Goat!

[EaglesPhan36]

What a f-ing bozo. There should be draws in tennis because both these guys have been terrible.

[That Dude Nate]

Wow. Had a chance to go up 5-3 but now down 5-4 now. What a f-ing prick.

[Yezzir]

I hedged out , got £10 on Bambri at +800. I didn't trust this prick at all. Awful, both of them.

[EaglesPhan36]

What a rooster smoker. Great way to start the week with a large choke job.

[blackbeSSt]

What a rooster smoker. Great way to start the week with a large choke job.

did that -900 shit stain lose?

[EaglesPhan36]

Wasn't quite that big, -500 is biggest I saw on him, but yes. Struvay retires before the 1st set is over. Levine was winning 5-0.


Might be one of those weeks.

[EaglesPhan36]

One more for the evening.

Dallas Challenger: Zverev +115
Zverev draws Ram in what looks pretty even. Ram has the ability to dominate on-serve still, but he hasn't flashed much of that early this year. His results on indoor courts in the past season or so also indicate he's not working matches much more than trying to win with his serve. Zverev has already logged court time on this surface in 2012 in qualis for Montepellier and the Heilbronn Challenger over the last few weeks. His results are mixed, but he's generally competitive on the surface and competes well against similarly ranked opponents. Ram has played this tourney a lot in his career, but the majority of his wins came against lower tier competition. For what looks pretty even, plus money is my try here.

[tevari]

D'oh. I have Ram for about 3 hundy

[EaglesPhan36]

Well someone will win.

[EaglesPhan36]

Well at least Matosevic cashed. That parlay turned into a .55 unit win because of the cancellation on Levine.

[EaglesPhan36]

Caloundra Challenger: Look +140
I'm not certain Look has what it takes to win against Greg Jones, but Jones was out-of-sort in his loss in Burnie to Millman. Maybe it was the layoff from the Australian Open, but he hardly looks the part of one of Australia's better options in the singles ranks. Look is a journeyman type who hasn't really latched on to playing regularly other than some futures plays since leaving UCLA a few years back. What is interesting to me is that he seems to play his best tennis against fellow Aussies and that means perhaps he's got something in store for Jones today. Maybe Jones stomps him, but his inconsistency could leave him ripe for being taken here and the price seems to suggest that perhaps.

[beefcake]

Nice blog EP, I would roll with Sock here. 2nd match for Kendrick off doping suspension. Still not quite match fit IMO. Kendrick wanted to retire if he did not get his sentence reduced last year.Hard for me to believe that his heart is going to be in it all year if you ask me.

[EaglesPhan36]

Dunno, but would think he would just quit if he really didn't want to play. It's not like he's making a lot of money playing these Challenger events. Sock is real difficult to bet on because of the youthful inconsistency. I'm also not sure the "name" he put out there for himself with a win over Gicquel last Fall is still zapping some of the value out of his actual lines ... as in being laid as too big a favorite in cases or not a big enough dog in others. Curious to see where his prices and his game go this season. I think he just needs to get some wins on the Challenger level, maybe run through qualis or get a wildcard back in the US Open and hopefully play well even if he loses there to call it good progress.

[EaglesPhan36]

Well Zverev gets it done. Look looking overmatched so far.

[EaglesPhan36]

Tuesday, February 7th

Quimper Challenger: de Voest -130
Everyone knows Dustin Brown can control a match with his serve alone, but he hasn't been in good form to start the year. de Voest meanwhile has match play on this indoor surface with some wins at the Heilbronn Challenger and he went 2-1 in qualis at Zagreb last week. Maybe Brown comes out and pounds his serve in for easy points and controls this, but he's not a complete player so if the serve is off - he's always going to be in trouble.

[EaglesPhan36]

Parlays: 10-7 [+2.40]
Totals: 1-3 [-2.60]
Dogs: 7-5 [+6.30]
Favorites: 1-1 [+0.00]
Challengers: 6-3 [+4.90]
Doubles: 1-0 [+1.00]
-----------------------
Total: 26-19 [+12.00]

[EaglesPhan36]

WTA Paris: Safarova -130
Good match here with Kerber. Kerber did just play on this surface in Fed Cup play over the weekend, beating Hradecka in straights. She's played well to start the season, but her game doesn't seem to suit this surface as much as an outdoor hard court. She's had a little success on it, but mostly against lower level competition. Safarova has shown a knack for jump starting her season on indoor courts in the past with the exception being here last year against Dokic. Otherwise, the surface seems favorite to her with a final and two semifinal appearances last year on indoor hard courts. She's made the finals twice in three tries here. I think Kerber might be a better overall player, but I think Safarova is better suited to this court. Should be a battle.

[EaglesPhan36]

Quimper Challenger: Rufin -160
Thought about this all night. Rufin of course coming off the big week in Montpellier where he took out Pospisil, F.Lopez and had Simon on the ropes before fading in the 3rd. He faces Jaziri here who I like, but Jaziri looked terrible in his last match in Kazan. Rufin had played just a handful of matches on indoor hard courts prior to last week, but he is now 4-2 with some good play hopefully boosting his confidence last week. Might be a trap, but I am falling for it. If he serves as well as he did in rounds one and two last week, he has the chance to win again.

[EaglesPhan36]

de Voest is going to fail. Bageled Brown in the 2nd, but down a break in the 3rd. I loathe Dustin Brown.