Matthew Walton

The Art Of Outright Tennis Betting: Lesson 2 - Course & Distance Form

Discover how to make money from ATP Tour tennis with this guide to tournament action.

Having considered in our first article the over-riding importance of the draw when it comes to selecting outright tennis bets, the next factor to cover is that of previous tournament form. That is to say, looking at players who have a track record of performing well in a particular event.

This method of form study, something which horseracing tipsters would call 'course and distance' form, is another important consideration when analysing the outright betting market.

In an immediate sense, any player who returns to an event the year after doing well at the tournament will have ranking points to defend. As such, unless they perform to the same level, under the rolling 12 month ATP points system they risk losing places in the overall standings as their ranking inevitably drops. In other words, they have an underlying motivation to challenge, even before the event begins.

And moving on from that, previous good form at a tournament would suggest the player is suited to the playing conditions - whether that be the actual court itself (a fast, bouncy surface or a very slow, clay court), the venue (indoor/outdoor), the location (temperature, altitude, continent) and the time of year (early/late season).

Naturally of more interest are those players with form over several years at the same event. Any player can get lucky in any one year, that's just the luck of the draw, but we do see certain players target certain events each season in their schedule ... and that's no coincidence.

Also, don't be put off if a player hasn't actually won the tournament before but has made the QF's or SF's on more than one occasion. Again, that can just be down to meeting the wrong player on the wrong day. In this scenario what you need to determine is whether the player is something of a habitual choker or whether they do have past winning form elsewhere but just haven't won here, yet. Once you've found this out past form can be more easily evaluated.

The Russian was a former winner in Holland (2007) as well as making the QF's in (2008). Also this was the 6th time he had played in Rotterdam in nine years and Youzhny had also made the doubles final in 2008. Backed up with a good price, a fair draw and five previous indoor finals in his career (2:3) it was clear he could play well in these conditions, in general, and this event in particular.

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