The first Grand Slam of the year promised so much for Andy Murray and his loyal fans, but ultimately he came up short against an ever impressive Roger Federer.
The Scot played some terrific tennis over the two weeks in Australia, winning the admiration of almost all except those spread bettors that sold his outright win index.
Spread sellers will have noted that Murray has not faired too well at Melbourne before 2010, having never made it past the fourth round. Spread buyers of his tournament index (60pts for winner, 40pts for runner-up, 20pts for reaching semi-finals etc.) will have made a tidy profit.
The fact that Murray managed to reach the final by only dropping one set, to Marin Cilic, will have delighted buyers of his match supremacy spreads throughout the tournament.
It was buyers of pre-tournament favourite Federer’s outright index spread that were jumping for joy after he claimed the 16th Grand Slam title of his career. Punters that bought Federer’s supremacy spread in the final will have been thrilled with the convincing manner of his victory, in three sets. Those spread bettors that had bought Federer’s performance market (50pts for winning the match, plus 5pts for an ace, 25pts for straight sets victory, and -10pts for each double fault) will also have been overjoyed with the world number one’s near flawless final that made-up 140 points on the spread. Anyone that had bought Andy Murray’s player performance spread won’t have been too pleased to see his final make-up of minus ten points.
Rafael Nadal’s supporters on the spreads must be worried about the Spaniard’s chances over the rest of the tennis calendar. He was being soundly beaten by Murray, before having to retire hurt, in what looked like a reoccurrence of his knee problem. Punters looking to buy his Championship index spread at Roland Garros will have to watch his fitness closely over the next few months.
The player coming into the tournament on the hottest streak was Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko, but he would have let down all those that had bought his outright win index spread after he made up just 10 points. He did manage to snatch the first set of his quarter-final against Federer, before the 2007 champion slammed the door shut by taking the next three sets.
Novak Djokovic came up short in the first hard court Grand Slam of 2010, in what is deemed his preferred surface. The Serb breezed through the opening rounds, which will have given his spread supporters plenty of encouragement, before he also came unstuck at the quarter-final stage.
Another player to perform well was Djokovic’s conqueror, Jo –Wilfred Tsonga, who proved he can compete with the best as he reached the semi-final stage. Buyers of his tournament index will have been delighted with his standard of tennis and won’t have minded too much he lost to the world number one in the semis after a five set marathon in the previous round. Spread bettors that had bought the total points played in his quarter-final will have also been particularly happy after the match accumulated 313 points.