tennis | Tuesday, June 20, 2023 6:51 AM

Tuesday Tennis Best Bet: ATP London, Alex de Minaur vs Andy Murray

Jon Reid

Alex de Minaur vs Andy Murray Best Bet: Tuesday, June 20th

That was an impressive showing from Diego Schwartzman. Despite his down year, a third-round appearance at the French Open, followed up by a win over a decent player in Mackenzie McDonald on grass should give him some hope that perhaps he’s ready to start climbing back up the rankings. That win alone may be enough to propel him back into the top-100 when next week’s rankings come out.

For Tuesday, let’s take a look at what should be the most anticipated match on the schedule for many of the fans. Alex de Minaur looks to stop the red-hot Andy Murray, as the Brit continues his quest to play his way into a seeded position in Wimbledon’s draw.

In this article:

Alex de Minaur vs Andy Murray Preview
Alex de Minaur vs Andy Murray Best Bet

Alex de Minaur vs Andy Murray Preview

June 20th, 15:00 (UK Time)

It’s been a pretty strong fortnight for the 36-year-old from Scotland. He’s 10-0 across a pair of grass court Challenger events in Surbiton and Nottingham. That stretch has vaulted him back to 38th in the world and a few wins this week at Queen’s Club would see him likely earn that seed that seemed so unlikely a few weeks ago.

In his way, however, is de Minaur, who is no slouch on the grass in his own right and may benefit from the fact that Murray has played so much tennis over the course of the last two weeks.

While it was somewhat surprising to see Murray go back-to-back, the competition offered up in Nottingham wasn’t the strongest on grass courts, which surely helped him. Now back at tour level playing at a 500 event, things should certainly be tougher – especially if he begins to feel the effects of his match play physically.

That’s something de Minaur should be well positioned to exploit as well. The Aussie is well known for his ability to grind from the baseline and his unrelenting defence. Suffice it to say that extended rallies and a long match should be his friend in this one.

The fact that Murray doesn’t have the biggest weapons at his disposal means that extending points should be a plausible strategy for de Minaur.

His grass season hasn’t been as successful, but his loss in the Netherlands last week came from a set up and to the eventual champion in Tallon Griekspoor, who had an excellent week on home soil.

Alex de Minaur vs Andy Murray Best Bet

Once Murray wrapped up his second title in as many weeks and the main draw here pitted these two against one another, I was hoping to see the market react to Murray’s win streak and present some value in opposing him here.

See, because the competition in Nottingham wasn’t the best, it didn’t seem like the right place to bet against the legend of the game. Now with more tennis in his legs, a tough opponent and a price that has gone from 1.70 to 1.94 (the 1.70 was probably worth a bet in itself), I’m fine with finally pulling the trigger in opposing Sir Andy here.