Tennis / kyle edmund

The Brisbane Open - one of the first tennis tournaments of the new year promises a mouth watering lineup for fans and speculative bettors a like. I am 14 wins to 19 losses on my predictions since starting the blog. Taking into account bets placed on a proportional staking level (which I have followed thanks to Phil Newton) with all bets being equal I'm -0.5% since beginning on the 24th October thanks to some longer odds bets winning. Still I'd like to try build a reputation where i'm more than -0.5% behind in my predictions so I have got some work to do in the new year! Two Brit's in Contention The Brisbane 250 starts today and see's the return of Andy Murray who will be looking to get a few tournaments under his belt before the Australian Open. I am also delighted to see the British Number One in action Kyle Edmund who finished last year with a bang by winning his maiden ATP title in Belgium at the European Open with a climatic win over Gael Monfils. Two Brit's returning from injury, Murray obviously with the bigger return considering his struggle to build momentum after his long term hip injury. Edmund is likely to progress to atleast the Quarter Final as he has a bye in the first round and will face a weak second round opponent too (either Yasutaka Uchiyama - 180th or Ugo Humbert - 102nd). Plenty of Talent to Look Forward To Still this years tournament has plenty more players added to the mix to make it a high quality affair in complete contrast to last years. We also have the luxury of Nadal, Kygrios, Nishikori, Dimitrov and Medvedev to watch. Kyrgios is the defending champion for Brisbane and will be a curious customer to watch, after a successful 2016 where he won 3 hard court titles and a 2017 where he made the final in 2 very hard tournaments including a Masters, 2018 was a bit of a wobble. His only shining moment was winning at Brisbane at the beginning of the year. After that he reached one Semi Final at Queens in the summer and nothing much else transpired. A mixture of frustration on court playing up, niggly injuries and firey outbursts dogged 2018 and left him at a low point. Nadal's to Loose if Fit Nadal is the one to watch at this tournament, if his fitness holds up it's his title to loose and I can't see him loosing if he's fit. It's difficult to assess his hard court performance in 2018 because he only competed in 3 events. Out of those, he won one and pulled out with injury at both the US Open and and Australian Open after going deep in both. He could have possibly won either of those grand slams too had he kept his fitness. But even without much of a completed hard court record last year he will be the biggest threat here. He did manage to make the Quarter Finals and Semi Finals of both hard court Grand Slams before retiring. Without the likes of Federer, Djokovic and Del Potro here he will have one eye on the prize from the start. Nishikori actually enjoyed a good 2018, he may not have won a single trophy, but he did make the Semi's in New York, the Final in Monte Carlo, the Quarters at Wimbledon, the Semi's at the US Open, the Final at Tokyo and Vienna. Sadly he dive bombed at the ATP Finals in London where he lost to both Anderson and Thiem having starting well against a poor Roger Federer. Nishikori looks like one of those players destined to come so close to so many trophies but never quiet make it over the line. He doesn't quiet cut it in any corner but in the smaller tournaments he's a danger. I think he can reach the Semi's in Brisbane but he won't be in the final. Daniil Medvedev won his first 3 ATP titles this year, it was a sensational year for the young Russian and he will have his eyes fixed on the trophy, though a fit Rafa Nadal or Andy Murray would prove a massive obstacle for him. There's no denying the 22 year old has potential though, in particular he showed that when upsetting the home fans by beating Nishikori in Tokyo towards the end of last year to claim his first ATP 500 trophy. My ideal final here would be to see either Edmund or Murray take on Nadal. I wouldn't like to see Kygrios go deep because he tends to shoot himself in the foot and ruin the tournament for the fans. If he can be on his best behaviour (not likely) that would be a different matter but he's likely to implode and virtually forfeit the tougher matches. Outright Winner Prediction I am backing two players here. Nadal to win at stake of 3% and odds of 3.75 and Edmund at odds of 12.0 at 1%. Nadal really impressed me in Abu Dhabi against Anderson. You could clearly see he wasn't going to waste his energy in an exhibition match after the first set. But he looked so dangerous going at half pace and he will really want to go deep in this tournament ahead of the Australian Open to build some momentum for the new year. Edmund is a curious customer, he has a lot of potential because he's a hybrid player. Obviously his forehand is his main weapon but he has been working a lot on his serve and defensive skills too which have come a long way. His side of the draw can see him already reach the Quarter Finals and from there on he has the potential to win against anyone on the day except Nadal. So at 12.0 odds he's an excellent outside bet. Day One Bets at Brisbane Open Dimitrov in straight sets vs Nishioka @ 1.94 (1%) Uchiyama to beat Humbert @ 2.55 (1%) Bedene +3.5 Match Handicap vs Raonic @ 2.02 (1%) Hopman Cup: USA vs Greece - Live In Play Prediction: Sakkari to beat S. Williams. Williams is looking shaky considering she is meant to be a clear favourite and has already been broken once in the first set. Taking Sakiri at 4.00 (1%).