Tennis Betting: The game's worst bottlers exposed

Players Under the Microscope / Sean Calvert / 15 July 2010 / Leave a Comment

Kohlschreiber, or is that Choke-schreiber, in action

"Philipp Kohlschreiber has been dubbed Philipp Choke-schreiber for his ability to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory, while I am yet to be convinced by the so-called ‘new’ Fernando Verdasco."

Sean Calvert alerts us to the players we should think twice before backing at short prices

Anyone who has ever played an individual sport to a vaguely respectable level will know how hard it is to close out a match from a winning position and how the nerves can fray when it comes to hitting that last shot.

The key, according to snooker legend Steve Davis is 'to play as though it means nothing, when in fact in means everything'. Easy to say, but not quite so easy to execute.

Tennis is perhaps the ultimate sport - with the possible exception of golf - where a player HAS to produce to close out a match and generally speaking you need to hold your serve when you can perhaps barely hold your racket.

Because of this, tennis has had and continues to have its fair share of 'bottlers' - the men (and women) who have a hard time serving out a match.

I highlighted one such player in this week's tournament preview - Jurgen Melzer, who has his own unfortunate nickname, Jurgen Meltdown, due to several on-court combustions.

Many is the time that I've seen Melzer trading at around [1.2] or lower to close out a match and as if by magic, five minutes later, he's back to [2.0] after a calamitous service game and most likely a spectacular rant at no-one in particular.

Not wishing to single Melzer out, here are a few more players to avoid when a set and a break up in a three-setter or equivalent.

Can you believe that Igor Andreev is now ranked number 81 in the world? The Russian with the thumping forehand was number 18 a year-and-a-half ago, but he has a spectacular tendency to flop under pressure, which his 3-6 record in finals bears testament to.

And who can forget Andreev's countryman Nikolay Davydenko being fined for not trying when he couldn't even get a serve over the net in the St Petersburg Open final in 2007.

Anyone who had lumped on Davy at prohibitive odds after he had won the first set 6-1, must have been in tears by the end - as was Davy ironically - when he lost the decider by the same margin in one of the most cringeworthy sights seen in a tour level match.

Thankfully for Davydenko he has been able to put that behind him and show his best form in the last year or so, but I would never back him at a skinny price whatever the situation. That fragility could come back at any given moment.

Another who has put in some pitiful displays of mental fragility on court - and managed to cure it of late - is Tomas Berdych.

The Czech has been given a range of unwelcome nicknames by tennis punters - none of which I can repeat here - following a series of efforts where he started well and melted away, sometimes with a disastrous effect to our bank balances.

The one that instantly leaps to mind was in the fourth round of the US Open in 2007 where Berdcyh was more than matching Andy Roddick in the opening set when his bottle went and he lost a breaker, called the doctor, took some pills, played two more games and then quit on his stool.

I've been impressed by the fact that he's at least recognised this and called in the sports psychologists to sort it out and it seems to be paying dividends with a French Open semi and Wimbledon final now to show for it.

This is much more than can be said for Jose Acasuso, who can quit at any time during a match when the mood takes him and often fades so dramatically during matches that he may as well hand his racket to a member of the crowd to finish the match for him.

Germany's Florian Mayer is another with a longstanding reputation as one to lay when the pressure rises and his price drops, as is Paul Henri-Mathieu, who has never really recovered from famously losing the Davis Cup final from two sets up.

Another German, Philipp Kohlschreiber has been dubbed Philipp Choke-schreiber for his ability to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory, while I am yet to be convinced by the so-called 'new' Fernando Verdasco.

You will often hear ill-advised commentators in majors describing Verdy as such these days, after one win in the Davis Cup final... but this was against Acasuso, people! Jose Acasuso! It was far less an example of Verdy's new-found bottle as a 'who can choke the least'
contest, which the Spaniard just shaded after a photo-finish and stewards enquiry.

So, beware of the above (and there are many more) when you spot a bit of 'free money' and are tempted to back a dead cert from a set and a break up. It could cost you... big time.