Wimbledon: Murray v Nadal Betting Preview

What is it with British tennis players? Just when you think they’re dead and buried and on the verge of an ignominious exit from SW19 they summon the powers of Centre Court, like He-Man at the gates of Greyskull, and produce at least one epic win every year. It felt like Tim Henman used to do it every year and it looks like the latest kid on the block, Andy Murray, is capable of writing his own fairytale endings.

Over 10 million UK viewers watched the (p)lucky Scotsman salvage victory from the jaws of defeat and slowly but surely the British public are beginning to warm to the frosty 21 year old.

In the end his win over Gasquet was mightily impressive but for a very long time he looked ordinary, very ordinary. Had the Frenchman been of stronger mind it would be he who faces number two seed Rafael Nadal for a place in the semi finals today. But the emergence of Murraymania got to Gasquet and the momentum of the pumped-up crowd swept Murray to a famous win. He’ll need more of the same again today if he’s to topple the Spaniard.

I get the impression that no-one know just how good Andy Murray is. Pundits claim he’ll win a slam, some even predicting the US Open this year. Murray himself says he can Wimbledon this week – but he would, wouldn’t he? He’s no longer the scrawny, Harry Enfield caricature of a teenager we witnessed two years ago that’s for sure. Now he’s bulked up, grown up and thankfully shut up – learning to keep his emotions in check on court. Today’s match will go a long way to determining whether he has arrived on the big stage or not.

But standing in his way is an equally determined Nadal. Just one year Murray’s senior, Nadal has already racked up 4 Grand Slam wins and two Wimbledon finals, perhaps putting into context the relative merits of Murray’s career to date. The Spaniard is many people’s favourite to lift the famous old trophy on Sunday but the bookies still rightly have him behind Federer in the betting at a best price of 13/8 (Betfred, Boylesports, VCBet). But there is no doubt that the defending champ is nervously looking over his shoulder.

Nadal has gone about his business impressively so far, dropping just one set on his way to the quarters. His power from the baseline and pace around the court must strike fear into every player on the tour and Murray will need to up his game considerably to compete in today’s match.

Murray doesn’t yet have the consistency in his game or the power to blow away a player like Nadal, so if he’s going to win it it will no doubt be in five sets. A 3-2 Murray win is a massive 12/1 at Bet Direct and Stan James – which is a bigger price than some firms are going him to win the whole tournament.

As much as I’d love to see Murray win – even if it is just to rile those ‘Brits’ who cannot take to the Scotsman – I think today will just be a step too far. Nadal is at a different level on almost every aspect of the game. He’s just 2/9 (William Hill) to beat Murray and the bookies don’t often get it spectacularly wrong.

I think Murray will do well to take a set today but with the Wimbledon crowd behind him you just never know. at 11/4 (Coral) a 3-1 win for Nadal looks tempting and I’ll be having a small dabble at that.

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