General / Matthew Walton / 12 March 2009 / Leave a comment

As tennis punters, we may be more familiar with the men's game than the women's but that tends to make value harder to find where Roger and Rafa are concerned... Matthew Walton explains why knowing how to sort the brides from the bridesmaids can be profit.

Whether we back winners or not, we all like to think we've got a pretty good handle on the form of the men's game.

The principal performers are all 'exposed' in terms of playing ability, the tournament data is a long-standing and reliable guide to performance and the overall rankings tend to make sense.

Furthermore, without trying to be sexist, the fortitude of the players - in both body and mind - is generally more robust. As such, when we bet on the men's game we tend to do it with a greater belief that we'll get a run for our money.

However, this amount of widely available information tends to present a level playing field in terms of backers and layers. Value, as a consequence, can often be harder to find with most punters being generally all too aware of the various strengths and weaknesses of the main protagonists.

And it's at this point where, all of a sudden, the women's game becomes a much more attractive betting proposition. Here the form is less known, less understood and, basically, less well used when it comes to framing markets for outright betting and match betting.

And, as we all know, the key to making a profit is to know more than your bookmaker (or in this case your rival in Betfair). Knowledge is power ... but knowledge is also profit.

Now, in years gone by, we've had overwhelmingly superior world No.1's such as Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles and Steffi Graf in the 1980's and early 1990's and since then we've seen three dominant forces in the women's game. Venus and Serena Williams, of course, and Justin Henin.

Seeing as though all three aren't in attendance this coming week at Indian Wells (the Williams sisters have chosen to boycott this event in recent years and Henin retired last May) it's timely to champion the cause of women's tennis betting.

Because when you think about it, with the added loss (through retirement, injury or loss of form) of players such as Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Mary Pierce, Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis and, to some extent, Amelie Mauresmo the face of the present day WTA Tour has radically changed.

Can you tell your Wozniak from your Wozniacki? Would you be able to split Ursula and Agnieszka Radwanska? Or Sharapova from Kleybanova from Hantuchova or Kuznetsova?

The reason being, if you can then you're going to start an appreciable distance in front of most traders on Betfair. You're 30-0 before the game has even started!

Furthermore, the disappearance of the game's leading ladies over the past few years hasn't really caused any one individual to pick up the mantle.

Maria Sharapova has won three Slams but that's now over a six year period. Poor health and poor form have stopped the Russian when she looked the most likely to fill the vacuum atop the world rankings. Then came Ana Ivanovic but since her French Open win last June the Serbian has also failed kick on.

Elsewhere, Svetlana Kuznetsova has won a Slam but that was back in 2004. On that score it's difficult to say that she still has scope for improvement. Same goes for a two-time major winner, Amelie Mauresmo, who is 30 this year - and that's old even on the men's tour!

There are no other active Grand Slam winners in the women's game at the moment. A grand total of six, these four and the Williams sisters. And what this leaves is a whole welter of aspiring future champions just waiting to be backed! It's just a question of sorting the brides from the bridesmaids.

Take, for example, the quartet of Elena Dementieva [6.4], Vera Zvonereva [7.4], Dinara Safina [8.2] and Jelena Jankovic [8.4].

These four girls head the betting at Indian Wells but none has ever won a Slam and all have been found wanting at some stage when the pressure has been on. Female equivalents of James Blake, Fernando Gonzalez or David Ferrer. Well worthy of their place within the top dozen players on tour but not quite good enough to deserve that kind of 'all in' support which players like Venus or Serena, Rafa or Roger clearly merit.

You then find players who are clearly open to marked improvement. Women with age and ability of their side. Here you would have to mention Victoria Azarenka [8.2] a winner already this year in Brisbane and Memphis, the 19-year-old from Belarus is definitely ready to compete at the next level.

The Dane, Caroline Wozniacki [19.0] is another with the potential to add to her three career titles to date. More so being just 18-years-old.

Agnieszka Radwanska, the Pole, is a big price at [46.0] and although she's yet to win on tour this year, the 20-year-old still has the chance to land a big title such as the BNP Paribas Open.

Just a few names there which might already be familiar to you ... but if they aren't already then they should in the very near future.

The fact of the matter is that the women's game is wide open at the moment and without a dominant force (and the Williams sisters at Serena (27) and Venus (28) are past the age when they will chase every prize the game has to offer) this presents us with tremendous betting heats for pretty much every tournament.

Ask yourself when was the last major men's event that was [7.0] the field?

That means that for the dedicated form student there is the possibility to steal a distinct march upon your Betfair adversaries. We've mentioned a couple of names above and there's more to add to the list.

But don't, whatever you do, refrain from betting on the women's game because of a lack of knowledge. That information is out there, for free, if you just look around. Armed with that data you'll see just how attractive women's betting can be!