This week sees more European red dirt action and the start of the summer hard court season, with tournaments in Germany, Holland and the USA.
The biggest prize fund is over in Stuttgart, where Rafael Nadal is the hottest of hot favourites to take the honours at 2-7 generally. This is too skinny for an interest from me, although it's about as solid a 2-7 shot as you will find anywhere this week. I will be concentrating on individual matches here this week, as Nadal's presence kind of messes things up. Therefore, on the off chance of a Nadal slip up, I've gone for some value outside bets in the shape of last year's finalist Jose Acasuso at 64-1 and Juan Monaco at 54-1 with Betfair. They are both in Nadal's half, so they are very much the minimum of minimum bets. Monaco may have found the clay a bit on the slow side in Bastad last week and is a classy player in the right conditions, whilst Acasuso is never worth relying upon, but has his weeks and if he's on he can trouble the best.
The other clay court tournament, which takes place in Amersfoot, Holland looks in contrast a very open affair, with Russians Davydenko (surprise, surprise), Youzhny and Andreev heading the market. The first two lost in the first round last week, so will be fresh, but neither is in the best of form right now and could be worth opposing. Andreev has a solid chance, but is now too short at around 9-2 to be worth a serious punt and he also faces dangerous Serb, Janko Tipsarevic in the first round. I managed to get on early when Andreev was 7-1, although it's a tiny bet and I've had a stab at Tipsarevic when 40-1 was available with Betfair. Elsewhere, this has all the hallmarks of one of those tricky events and I don't really fancy a bet on this one.
The hard court season begins in earnest in Los Angeles, with the Countrywide Classic and I like the look of unpredictable Russian Dmitry Tursunov at 8-1 and outsider Radek Stepanek at 50-1.
Turunov lost in the final here last year to nemesis Tommy Haas, who has won this twice, but who is as usual injured this time and the bottom half of the draw looks easier to me. Tursunov will have to go through a moodier than ever Marat Safin, who has just dispensed with the services of the latest poor soul to have provided coaching services to the Russian and he looks very beatable right now. James Blake is the danger, but the two have never played so it will be an interesting match-up if it happens.
Stepanek seems to be returning to a bit of form after a bad injury hampered his progress and is worth a small investment at 50-1. He is in the top half of the draw, where my favourite player Fernando Gonzalez is the top dog, but who looks way too short to back at 5-2 and Stepanek thrashed him in straight sets in the French Open this year. Gonzalez will win events like this, but I believe him to best watched at the moment.
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