Kohlschreiber exits Stuttgart

Tennis Betting Lines

07/13/2010 - Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded German favorite Philipp Kohlschreiber was an opening-round upset victim Tuesday at the Mercedes Cup tennis event.

German Florian Mayer upended his compatriot Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2 on the red clay at TC Weissenhof.

Fifth-seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes avoided an upset by overcoming Germany's Philipp Petzschner 2-6, 7-5, 6-2, while seventh-seeded former top-10 performer Gilles Simon of France held off 6-foot-5 Jamaican wild card Dustin Brown 6-3. 3-6, 7-6 (7-1) on Day 2.

Unseeded defending Stuttgart titlist Jeremy Chardy came up a loser on Day 2, as the Frenchman succumbed to Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3. Chardy defeated Romanian Victor Hanescu in last year's Mercedes Cup finale. Hanescu exited the draw here on Monday. Gimeno-Traver will face top- seeded Russian star Nikolay Davdyenko in the round of 16.

In other matches involving Germans, Simon Greul grounded his fellow countryman Michael Berrer 7-6 (8-6), 6-4; Argentine Horacio Zeballos doused Andreas Beck 6-4, 7-5; wild card Bjorn Phau drilled Romanian qualifier Victor Crivoi 6-2, 6-3; and Spanish qualifier Pablo Andujar overcame German qualifier Bastian Knittel 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Additional opening-round wins came for Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.

Wwjazzsports Tennis Betting News

<< Leverkusen signs striker Jorgensen
Leverkusen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayer Leverkusen has completed the signing of striker Nicolai Jorgensen from Danish side AB. The 19-year-old has earned himself a five-year deal with the Bundesliga club after impressing on a

<< Palermo makes offer for Liverpool's Lucas
Palermo, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva could be on his way to Italy after Palermo made an offer for the Brazilian. The Serie A side are reported to have tabled a bid in the region of six million euros for t

<< Clippers sign Willie Warren
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers have signed guard Willie Warren, the team's second-round pick in the 2010 draft. Warren, the 54th overall selection, played two seasons at Oklahoma before entering the draft

<< This Week in Auto Racing July 16 - 18
Madison, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While the Sprint Cup Series takes a break this weekend, the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series compete at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. The IZOD IndyCar Series runs on the streets

<< Robredo wins Bastad opener
Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time champion Tommy Robredo highlighted Tuesday's first-round winners at the Swedish Open. The fifth-seeded Robredo topped Poland's Michal Przysiezny 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 on the red clay at Bastad Tennis St

Agent: Ilgauskas to sign with Miami Heat >>
MIAMI (AP) -Zydrunas Ilgauskas is following LeBron James to the Miami Heat.Agent Herb Rudoy says the veteran center expects to sign a two-year contract later this week. The terms have not been finalized, but Rudoy says ``we've agreed to agree.''Rudo

Columbus hosts struggling K.C. in mid-week MLS fixture >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Crew return home when they host the Kansas City Wizards in Major League Soccer action at Crew Stadium on Wednesday. The Eastern Conference leading Crew (8-2-4) are coming off a scoreless d

Nationwide Series begins second-half of season at Gateway >>
Madison, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday, July 17. Race: Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250. Site: Gateway International Raceway. Track: 1.25-mile oval. Start time: 8:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 200. Miles: 250. 2009 wi

Trucks join Nationwide at Gateway >>
Madison, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Camping World Truck. Date: Friday, July 16. Race: CampingWorld.com 200. Site: Gateway International Raceway. Track: 1.25-mile oval. Start time: 9:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 162. Miles: 200. 2009 winner: Mi

IndyCar tackles the streets of Toronto >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: IZOD IndyCar. Date: Sunday, July 18. Race: Honda Indy Toronto. Site: Streets of Toronto. Track: 1.721-mile, 11- turn temporary street course. Start Time: 12:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 85. Miles: 146.285. 2009

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.