Wimbledon Betting / Sean Calvert / 17 June 2010 /

We all know that Roger Federer is King of Wimbledon and that Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick can more than hold their own on the green stuff. But beyond that, who are the true grass court specialists and what skills do they possess, asks Sean Calvert.

No sooner has all the clay been scraped from the tennis shoes of the ATP Tour's finest, than Wimbledon is upon us.

A sparse collection of tickets; queues that lead most of the way down the Wimbledon Park Road, overpriced refreshments, ludicrously pompous staff and all combined with roughly the same amount of personal space as was enjoyed in the Black Hole of Calcutta. Yes it's here again and we love it!

Well, we love to bet on it at least and instead of blindly firing all of your World Cup winnings on Andy Murray and crossing your fingers, take a look at what makes a great grass court player. And yes, Murray should really be one.

The requirements for winning the Men's Singles has changed a lot in recent years, as the courts at SW19 have been deliberately slowed down in an attempt to recreate the majesty of the Borg and Laver eras and therefore, the emphasis is now on more of an all-court game.

You still need a good serve though, but not necessarily the raw pace of an Ivo Karlovic or John Isner type of delivery.

Roger Federer ([2.5] to win Wimbledon) and Pete Sampras were masters at placement, with enough power to get the job done and earn them plenty of free points, and although Andy Roddick's serve isn't the menace it once was, he controls it well enough these days to still be a contender.

Another factor that makes Roddick ([18.0]), Federer and Murray ([11.0]) among the favourites is movement on the court and we have all seen how Roddick and Murray have improved in that department in recent years after intensive fitness training.

Anyone who was watching Queen's last week will have seen a slimline Mardy Fish ([200.0]) reach the final after shedding a couple of stones in weight and the grass court improvement (never past the last 32 at Wimbledon in his career) was obvious.

An ability to improvise is key and players who enjoy a true bounce to be able to tee-off on their groundstrokes are always going to struggle on grass, where you will get the odd dodgy bounce and that sometimes plays on the mind.

We've all seen players looking in disgust at the surface when they've skied one into the crowd - Marat Safin, Nikolay Davydenko and Juan Martin Del Potro spring immediately to mind.

As some of the more brainless ball-bashers in the men's game have come to realise, you need to be able to get to the net and finish points off with a smart volley to avoid a long, drawn-out slug-fest and not many clay courters are comfortable up at net.

There's still a place for a great serve-volleyer at Wimbledon, but these days you have to be outstanding to be able to keep it up for a possible five sets and as Ivo Karlovic ([700.0]) , Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut have found - that is tough to do.

Mahut has won just three matches at SW19, while Llodra barely fares much better with five first round exits. The French left-hander has never gone further than the last 16 despite being a winner on grass at S'Hertogenbosch and until last year, Karlovic had lost in the first round on his four previous appearances.

Every surface has its specialists of course and the clay boys with their long backswings and heavy top spin are always likely to struggle - unless you're Nadal, who can combine fantastic movement with great volleying skills and deadly accurate groundies.

So, which players should we look out for to potentially upset the odd higher ranked player this week? Well, where better to begin than with Aussie warhorse Lleyton Hewitt ([44.0]) .

The veteran has shown in recent weeks that his hip operations have been successful and he's playing better now than for a long time. His win over Federer in Halle highlighted his well-being and he's always worth backing in a scrap.

Another veteran that's always worth having on your side to take out a grass-hating short-priced favourite is Rainer Schuettler. The German reached the semis here a couple of years back and his run to the same stage of Queen's last week showed that he's still capable of mixing it with the best. He is often under rated by the layers because of his
age.

Regular readers will know my dislike for the talents of Schuettler's fellow German, Benjamin Becker, but on grass he comes alive. Becker has a 17-13 winning record on the green stuff and won the title in S'Hertogenbosch last year. He recently reached the semi's in Halle too, before losing to Hewitt.

Richard Gasquet isn't really known as a grass expert, but the closest player to Federer on the tour in terms of pure talent is a former Wimbledon semi-finalist and who could forget the tennis lesson he dished out to Murray for two sets here in 2008? Getting back to near his best, he'll be one that the big names will want to avoid in the draw.

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