Zachary Cohen runs through his tennis predictions and tennis best bets for all of the worldwide action on Friday, April 18th.
Barcelona, Munich and Stuttgart tennis best bets for April 18th
Between the ATP and WTA Tours, we have some massive 500-level events to watch this week. I’m going to continue churning out tennis best bets from Sunday to Thursday (my plays for most semifinals and finals will be on the picks page, though I will make exceptions for massive weekend matchups), so make sure you’re checking the website for coverage on 500-level events — like Barcelona, Munich and Stuttgart. Also, make sure you’re checking out the picks page for all of my action for smaller tournaments and Challengers.
We’re entering the most exciting portion of the tennis calendar, as there are several 1000-level events in the coming weeks. Those then flow into the majors, so everything heats up pretty quickly. We’ll be covering all of them, whether that’s with my columns or Gill Alexander’s excellent work on A Numbers Game. That said, if you like tennis, now is the time to consider a VSiN Pro subscription! It’s only $59 to get access to everything until August 1st!
With all of that in mind, check out my Barcelona, Munich and Stuttgart best bets for Friday, April 18th.
Tallon Griekspoor vs. Alexander Zverev – Munich
Griekspoor beat Zverev in a tight three-set match at Indian Wells, snapping a five-match losing streak against the German. However, that streak definitely felt like it was bound to break sooner rather than later. In the five matches Zverev beat Griekspoor in, six of the 14 sets they played went to tiebreakers. Also, two of the five matches went the distance. These two have always played very close matches, but Griekspoor was struggling to find ways to get over the hump. Well, now that he did get in the winner’s circle, I anticipate this being a back-and-forth matchup moving forward.
These are just two players that can really serve, so it’s always likely they’ll play long, competitive sets against one another. And I don’t see that changing just because Zverev is playing at home. Sure, the change in scenery is good for Zverev, as fans are normally rooting against him. But does playing at home outweigh the fact that Zverev hasn’t played high-level tennis since January? I don’t think so.
I do think that playing on clay means Zverev is likely to find a way through, but I don’t agree with the odds being set the way they are. Griekspoor won two sets off Zverev at Roland Garros last year, and those conditions were much more favorable for the German. So, I’m taking a shot on Griekspoor to make Zverev sweat here, and I’m sprinkling the moneyline on principle alone.