The majority of commentators and spread bettors were of the opinion, prior to this year’s tournament, that this was Andy Murray’s best chance of winning a Grand Slam.
The Scot made it to the final 12 months ago and with a semi-final appearance at Wimbledon earlier in the summer, it was no surprise that Sporting Index saw numerous buyers of the pre-tournament Murray spread in the outright index at 27 (60 points for winner, 40 for runner-up, 20 semi-finalist, 10 quarter-finalist, 5 last 16). All was going smoothly for his supporters on the spreads until he met Marin Cilic in the fourth round and was completely outclassed in a 7-5 6-2 6-2 defeat. The final make-up was 5, leaving those buyers looking every bit as grumpy as the dour Scot.
Following his Wimbledon win, it is now almost certainly justified to call Roger Federer the greatest tennis player of all time and he performed with his normal verve and gusto throughout the fortnight. He was the clear favourite with Sporting Index at every stage of the tournament, until probably the second game of the final set of Monday night’s final. Spread bettors were well aware that he hadn’t been beaten in five years in New York and there were plenty of buyers of his win index spread at 38 prior to the tournament. The greatest player of all time perhaps played the greatest shot of all time in the penultimate point of his semi-final against Novak Djokovic and it’s doubtful that tennis spread betting fans have ever enjoyed a hot dog more.
Rafa Nadal has been sorely missed during this season and he wouldn’t have been too disheartened with a semi-final finish after his injury problems. He started the tournament with a spread of 20, so buyers wouldn’t have had their fingers burnt, despite him being annihilated by del Potro 6-2 6-2 6-2 in the semis. The Argentine has undoubtedly been the story of the men’s tournament and he showed himself to be not only gutsy, but also a very classy player who spread bettors will be keeping the right side of in the big tournaments. His win index spread at the start of the tournament was 14-17, so anyone buying would have enjoyed the past few days.
The final itself, although not quite as dramatic as the 2008 Nadal v Federer Wimbledon epic, was one of those fantastic sporting events for anyone who loves tennis and in particularly, spread betting on the sport. The initial spread for total games in the final was 38-40 and after Federer powered to a 6-3 first set win, there would have been plenty of sellers. However, the determined Argentine stuck his neck out and managed to take the second set on a tie-break – once again underlining how useful sports spread betting is when adopting an in-play strategy. Del Potro eventually took control in the final set, having looked down and out early on in the fourth and those spread bettors who stuck with the 20-year-old were rewarded after just over four hours of enthralling sport.