Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Sports World |
- Two way battle for Mens Austrlain Open Crown
- Tigers Deserve Aviva Premiership Lead
- Packers looking nailed on for Super Bowl success
| Two way battle for Mens Austrlain Open Crown Posted: 19 Jan 2011 03:01 AM PST With the first round of the opening tennis Grand Slam of the year already underway at the Australian Open in Melbourne, it is interesting to see that the Bookmakers do not see the mens tournament as anything other than the latest chapter in the Rafael Nadal v Roger Federer ongoing battle for tennis supremacy. Federer who won the title last year for the fourth time when defeating Britain's Andy Murray in the final is bidding to win his 17th career Grand Slam, while Nadal is looking for his tenth and his fourth on the trot. Should Nadal win then he will become the first player since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time. It is clear to see why therefore that Bookmakers are looking at the tournament as a two horse race and why they are not taking any worthwhile money on any other players other than the two principles. It seems to matter not that Murray knocked out Nadal last year and reached the final or that Novak Djokovic won the title here three years ago, after dumping Federer out in the semi finals. The bookmakers fully expect to see a Nadal v Federer final and will hope that it will be played to the same epic standards as it was when the two men played out the 2009 final – a match won in five sets by Nadal. Both men are odds on to make the final in an individual sense, but there is some value in the Australian Open betting on the two reaching the final which carries best odds of 6/4. A repeat of last year's final Federer v Murray is next best at 9/2, while Nadal Djokovic is a 5/1 chance. Murray of course cannot meet Nadal in the final as he is in the same side of the draw as the Spaniard and might meet him in the quarter final as he did in 2010. As far as the Ladies singles is concerned the betting has not been so brisk, largely due to the absence from the tournament of defending champion, Serena Williams who is still out injured. Favouritism has therefore gone to Kim Clijsters who is around the 12/5 mark to win her first Australian Open, while compatriot, Justine Henin, only just back from injury herself is next best in the betting with odds of 11/2. The number one seed and current world number one, Caroline Wozniacki looks a good value bet to win a first Grand Slam with odds of 17/2. Her best performance to date in Melbourne however was reaching the fourth round which she achieved in both 2008 and 2010. Clijsters in fact has been given a very tough opening round match against former world number one, Dinara Safina whose fall from the top spot in the world 18 months ago to a current ranking of 75 has been nothing short of spectacular. She was a finalist here in Melbourne two years ago as was Clijsters in 2004, but such has been her form that she is not expected to trouble the favourite in this match. Although Serena will not be playing, big sister, Venus will and she might just represent good value with odds of around 20/1 to win the tournament for the first time. She reached the quarter finals here in 2010 and 2008 and was a finalist in 2003. She loves playing in Australia usually and although she is only just back to playing tennis after an injury, she could be very difficult to beat.  |
| Tigers Deserve Aviva Premiership Lead Posted: 19 Jan 2011 02:49 AM PST Despite losing four times in the Aviva premiership so far this season, it is Leicester Tigers who lead the way in the table having moved to the top after their recent victory over previous incumbents, Northampton Saints! Careful study of the stats will provide the answers to why Leicester is the top team and why they are almost certain to be the top side at the end of the season. It is simply a matter of tries and bonus points; they have simply scored more than any other team in both. When they lose it has usually been in a close affair and when they win, they do so with devastating effect, scoring tries for fun, thus maximising their points tally. It could be argued that Northampton have played the most attractive rugby this season, but it is Leicester who have 42 tries in just 13 matches, which is twelve more than London Irish who are next best on 30. If they have a reason to be disappointed it will be in the tries against column, where they have conceded 19, which is the worst of the current top four teams in the league, the best being Northampton with just 15, but they of course have only scored 29. As it stands currently, the 'Tigers' have 44 points, six points clear of both Saracens and Northampton who dispute second place, with Harlequins in fourth on 34 points. Saracens must have nightmares when they look at the stats and must wonder how they have reached second place after scoring fewer tries than they have conceded. Their tally in fact of just 16 tries is one of the worst in the league, but the fact that they have conceded 18 makes their position quite astonishing. 'Sarries' have been helped of course by earning some very good wins, their successive wins back in the autumn over Northampton and Leicester certainly made their presence felt, but an ugly defeat at home to Exeter underlined that they were far from the complete article. Top try scorer in the Premiership so far this season is Topsy Ojo of London Irish with seven, which includes a hat trick against Newcastle back in September. On six tries apiece comes Scott Hamilton of Leicester and Tom Varndell of Wasps. The top points scorer however is Nick Evans of Harlequins who has amassed 169 points from a club total of 296. With just one win all season, Leeds Carnegie looked doomed to relegation although Newcastle seem to be doing their best to beat them to it. The Falcons under the guidance of coach, Alan Tait have won just twice all season but they at least managed to draw their latest game against Sale earlier this month which should provide them with some optimism in the coming matches. Credit must be paid to Exeter, who were everybody's favourites to be relegated at the first time of asking. However, they have hung in well, winning five and losing seven in their opening twelve matches. As it stands right now, the top three, Leicester, Saracens and Northampton should all make the play-offs at the end of the season with Leicester the 11/8 favourites in the rugby odds to win the Premiership Final at Twickenham on Saturday 28th May. Harlequins, who are also in the hunt might have to rely on the boot of Nick Evans for the rest of their season if they are to grab the fourth place. Wasps had been favourites to overhaul them but they like many of the Aviva Premiership sides this season are suffering from inconsistency which they seriously need to address.  |
| Packers looking nailed on for Super Bowl success Posted: 19 Jan 2011 02:30 AM PST Green Bay Packers are looking many people's favourites to win the Super Bowl even before they have played the NFC Championship game. The Packers only made it into the Super Bowl play-offs on the final day of the regular season but then blew away the Atlanta Falcons with a 48-21 thrashing of the NFC top seed and the Super Bowl 2011 odds indicate they can go all the way. That win secured a NFC Championship game with Chicago Bears, the team they beat on the final day of the season to make it into the play-offs. That was followed by a win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the first play-off game and the Packers are looking in top form going into the championship game. They are favourites to beat the Bears even though they are on the road against a side who won the NFC North, but the Packers are looking one of the best number six seeds in the history of the NFL and the Super Bowl betting odds 2011 reflect this. "We are a championship-calibre football team," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said after the win in Atlanta. "We feel good about who we are, how we played, our brand of football, and that is what we are sticking to." Few fans would argue with McCarthy's comments, but the Packers are likely to run into a strong Pittsburgh Steelers side in the Super Bowl itself. They face New York Jets in the AFC Championship game and the Steelers are favoured among many despite the fact they lost 22-17 in a game between the two sides in December.  |
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