Denis Shapovalov is considered one of the most exciting players of the next generation. At the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, he will face bad luck.
The 19-year-old Canadian is 25th in the world rankings – more newcomers on grass than ever before. Only last year did he play on grass with the pros for the first time, with mixed success: a direct defeat at Nottingham-Challenger, the successful qualifiers in Queen’s with a main-field win over Kyle Edmund and an opening defeat in Wimbledon against the unpredictable Jerzy Janowicz.
Shapovalov’s first appearance in Stuttgart fell in the water on Monday – rain at Weissenhof made a game from 5 pm impossible. He is now allowed to play the second match after 11 o’clock on Tuesday, if the weather is fine. Can Shapovalov lawn? It will be exciting to see. His little hand, the wonderful one-handed backhand, the mighty pace with the train to the front speak for themselves – in contrast to the elaborate swings that he still has to partly tame on the fastest of all surfaces.
Shapovalov can play Prajnesh Gunneswaran from India, who is probably only known to insiders. Two weeks ago, however, Gunneswaran caused a sensation – because he was not where he should have been: After Roland Garros’ Lucky Loser drama, he would have been next in the main draw (his first in a Grand Slam tournament!), but Gunneswaran had already entered a challenger in Italy and was not allowed to switch. The 20,000 euros for a first round in Paris? Perdu…
In Stuttgart, the 28-year-old fought his way through qualification with victories over Evan King and Christian Harrison; there have been no further successes (or appearances) on grass for him so far.
Accordingly also the odds of betting provider LeoVegas Sport, one of the leading sports betting providers: Since Shapovalov is an extremely high favourite, only a handicap bet is offered here. In a game with handicap markets, the underdog gets an advantage (positive handicap) and the favourite gets a disadvantage of some games (negative handicap) to compensate for the quality difference. Bets on the player who has won more games after taking the handicap into account win – regardless of which player wins the match.
The rate on Gunneswaran is 1.85 (with a positive handicap of + 4.5), the rate on Shapovalov 1.93 (with a negative handicap of – 4.5).
Example: Assuming Shapovalov wins 6:2 6:2, then he has won 12 games, Gunneswaran 4. 4.5 games would be subtracted at Shapovalov (12 – 4.5 = 7.5), at Gunneswaran 4.5 would be added (4 + 4.5 = 8.5). If you had bet on Shapovalov here, you would have lost (if you had won 6:1, 6:1).
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