The first big grass court tournament of 2019 is upon us as 32 of the leading players in the world game descent on Queen’s Club in London for the Fever-Tree Championships, the main stop for Wimbledon preparation for those who feel they need it.
Marin Cilic got the maximum preparation on his way to the SW19 last year and he returns to defend his title here. There are some seriously good players in the field this week though so this tournament is going to take a lot of winning.
Recent Winners
2018 – Marin Cilic
2017 – Feliciano Lopez
2016 – Andy Murray
2015 – Andy Murray
2014 – Grigor Dimitrov
2013 – Andy Murray
2012 – Marin Cilic
2011 – Andy Murray
2010 – Sam Querrey
2009 – Andy Murray
The Format
We have the typical ATP 500 format this week with the 32 men already drawn into the bracket and playing knockout tennis right from the off. Each match is the best of three sets with the final set having a tiebreak at 6-6 unlike Wimbledon where that decider will come at 12-12 in the fifth segment. The champion will be determined in the final on Sunday June 23 as long as the weather plays ball, which sadly is not guaranteed.
Top Half
With the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, all regulars in the past not here, it is the turn of Stefanos Tsitsipas to be the number one seed and as a result he is in the top half of the draw. Juan Martin del Potro is the next highest seed in this section with the other two seeded players being the Canadian pair of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic. Nick Kyrgios, Denis Shapovalov, Grigor Dimitrov and the British number one Kyle Edmund are all unseeded players in this half of the draw.
Bottom Half
This is where the defending champion Marin Cilic sits in the draw but it is the Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson who is the leading seed on his return to action after an elbow injury. Daniil Medvedev and Stanislas Wawrinka are the other two seeds in what looks a wide open section. There are loads of British players in this half of the draw including Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie while Nicolas Mahut came through qualifying to make it into the draw.
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Betting
There is a distinct shortage of grass court prowess among the seeded players this week and those who do have it either have form doubts, mental fragilities or are coming back from injury so I’m going to take my changes on a couple of unseeded players coming through and making something of an impression.
Fernando Verdasco has that classic leftie serve which skips off the grass and can be hard to get after and although he faces Daniil Medvedev in the first round, if he can come through that the draw could open right up with Cilic in no form whatsoever and Anderson likely to be rusty after three months out. Verdasco is a former quarter finalist at Wimbledon so he can play on the grass and if he can get rid of the Russian his half of the draw is almost certain to open right up. At 50/1 there is plenty of juice in his price.
Jeremy Chardy made it through to the semi-finals here last year, a culmination of a good run which saw him win in Surbiton and go well at Nottingham. He looked very good here too before going down to Novak Djokovic in the last four but he won’t be facing anyone of the quality of the Serb this week. Tsitsipas is the main seed in his section but he isn’t as familiar with grass as I would like while another danger in Roanic might not even show up. Chardy’s big serve can serve him well here and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he has another deep run.
Tips
Back F.Verdasco to win Fever Tree Championships (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back J.Chardy to win Fever Tree Championships (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 67.00 with 888sport (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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