Wimbledon Betting / Sean Calvert / 16 June 2009 /

Robin Soderling caused a huge upset in the tennis world when he knocked out Rafael Nadal on the way to making it to the French Open final. Sean Calvert, the man who tipped huge-priced Roland Garros semi-finalist Fernando Gonzalez, tells us how to find Wimbledon's Soderling.

The performances of Robin Soderling at Roland Garros shocked the tennis world, when he stormed to the final at Betfair's maximum price of [1000.0], with the possible exception of the Swede's coach Magnus Norman.

Hitherto written off by the vast majority of punters as an occasionally talented but mentally fragile individual, with a ridiculously high ball-toss and a flat, slapping forehand that had a tendency to break down with alarming regularity, Soderling was a true [1000.0] shot if ever there was one.

But his dismissals of David Ferrer and Nikolay Davydenko and that epic semi final win over Fernando Gonzalez proved that long shots can come good in the current tennis climate of 'big four' domination.

So, was that performance from a huge priced underdog a flash in the pan or could lightning strike twice on the carefully manicured lawns of the All England Club in the weeks to come?

With reigning champion and world number one Rafa Nadal struggling to even make it on to the newly-roofed centre court to defend his title and Roger Federer taking time out after his French Open triumph, the way could be paved for another Goran Ivanisevic or Boris Becker to lift the 2009 trophy on the second Sunday.

Obviously, trying to find a [1000.0] winner in any market takes a fair degree of guesswork, but good trades can be found and here are my money making tips for this year's Wimbledon Men's Singles tournament.

What we're looking for here is a man who feels he belongs on the big stage and isn't going to choke after knocking out a top ten seed early on. He needs to go far in the event to make it a worthwhile trade.

The first name that should go on our list with those characteristics is that of Janko Tipsarevic.

The Serb reached the round of 16 here last year, knocking out Andy Roddick along the way before a disappointing loss to surprise semi finalist Rainer Schuettler. Plus, Tipsy loves nothing more than a big match on a show court at any grand slam event, as his 2008 US Open clash with Federer proved.

At a price of around [900.0] there will be drawbacks and the main one with Tipsarevic is fitness. His body has a tendency to pack up on a regular basis, so if he's still in with a shot in week two it's worth laying him to lock in the profit.

For those not familiar with this process it's just like the concept of share trading. For example if we put £10 on Tipsy at [900] our Betfair screen would be showing a green (profit) figure of £9490 pre-commission with all of the other players showing a red (loss) figure of £10.00

Let's say that Tipsy made the quarters and his price came down to [50.0], we could then lay him for £180 for example, which would then show a green profit figure of £670 on the Serbian and also a green profit figure of £170 on everyone else in the field.

We have just seen a perfect example of this strategy in action at Roland Garros when Nadal's defeat brought everyone else's price in massively, thereby allowing big odds backers, such as those following my tip of Fernando Gonzalez at [250.0], a chance to lay off at around [6.0].

Clearly in order for this scenario to work perfectly we require the favourite to either lose or appear to be on his way out, as was the case with both Nadal and Federer in Paris.

We also need to choose the right players too. It's no good Nadal and Federer losing if we've backed the wrong longshots, so we're looking for a proven track record on the grass of SW19 too.

There are several players who fall into this category, amongst them Juan Carlos Ferrero, who has reached the last 16 or better three times, the last of these in 2007 when he took a set off Federer in the quarters.

The Spaniard has been struggling with injuries and illness since the days when he was a world number one, but he's playing his best tennis for some time right now and you can't go too far wrong at [1000.0].

Many people forget that last year's losing semi finalists were both longshots and although it would be nothing short of a miracle if Schuettler and Marat Safin did it again, it proves that it's very possible to profit from this technique.

Schuettler had never made it past the round of 32 in nine previous efforts before last year, so experience counts for a lot, strengthening the case of Ferrero.

Another veteran German whose record on the Wimbledon lawns isn't the best is Tommy Haas and although the value may just have gone after his win in Halle, Haas could still be worth an investment at around [120.0].

Like Schuettler, Haas hasn't made it past the last 32 in ten previous attempts in an injury ravaged career, but if his body can last and he gets a good draw this could be Tommy's year to go deep into the second week.

Since Wimbledon 2005 the remarkably consistent David Ferrer has only once failed to make it to at least the round of 32 of any grand slam. That's 14 out of 15 majors where his price has dropped from its opening mark and his racquet smashing reaction to his loss to Soderling at Roland Garros suggests the Spaniard has lost none of his hunger for success.

Ferrer also has a recent grass court title to his name (S'Hertogenbosch in 2008) and he should give punters a decent run for their money at the maximum price of [1000.0].

Another Spaniard worth backing at near the four figure price is Feliciano Lopez, who has twice been a quarter finalist and who should have beaten Safin to get to the semis last year.

Lopez's game suits Wimbledon and he too is a big stage player who loves the centre court (where he ended Tim Henman's love affair with the British crowds a couple of years back) and he could go well again at around [900.0].

For those hankering after the days of Becker's famous win, the former Wimbledon and US Open junior champion Grigor Dimitrov has been backed at the maximum price for a tidy amount.

The 18-year-old Bulgarian has shown little on the main tour so far in terms of results and it would be a huge shock if he were to go close here, but there again Soderling came into the French Open having shown nothing and we all know what happened to him.

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