Tennis Anyone?

Over the weekend, I threatened to start posting tennis picks if Grover didn't get his computer issues resolved at home. Well, he's called my bluff, which was a little easier after the few picks that I e-mailed him over the weekend actually did well (nobody was more surprised than me). So, I decided to give this experiment a try, at least for one post, and see what happens. Since the plays I didn't post did well (doesn't everybody say that?), I'm sure these will be garbage. All of these are men's first round matches and all lines from Pinnacle:

R. Ginepri (USA) -245 over D. Young (USA), 1.23 units to win 0.50 units

Big talent and experience mismatch. The 18-year-old Young is playing in his first French Open, while Ginepri has played in every Grand Slam event over the past 5 years. They're both hardcourt specialists (they're Americans after all), who won't ever make much noise on this surface, but head-to-head, Ginepri should be a straight-set winner whenever the rain allows them to actually play.

J. Vanek (CZE) -143 over J. Huta Galung (HOL), 0.72 units to win 0.50 units

Another huge experience edge for the favorite. Galung has only played one match all year in a real tournament and he lost in straight sets. Vanek has played in several tourneys this year with little success, but has been winning a few matches since clay court season started.

G. Simon (FRA) +130 over R. Stepanek (CZE), 0.50 units to win 0.65 units

It wouldn't be Against All Odds if there weren't a couple of underdogs, and here we have the clay court specialist home-country Frenchman as an underdog against the serve and volley Stepanek (is he married to Martina Hingis?). Stepanek scored a big surprising upset over Roger Federer a couple of weeks ago, but then had to withdraw from his next match due to sickness or injury. Simon, however, just won the last clay court tournament before the French Open, beating the 7th, 5th, 4th, and #1 seeds along the way. With Uncle Mo on Simon's side, this is a good spot to take the favorable line on the home dog.

F. Santoro (FRA) +146 over E. Korolev (RUS), 0.50 units to win 0.73 units

The 35-year-old Frenchman's last French Open, as he is retiring at the end of this year. Neither player has been very impressive this year, and both lost in the 2nd round of the Australian earlier in the season. With the home crowd providing the inspiration, Santoro moves on to the 2nd round, where he will get smacked badly by David Ferrer in straight sets. C'est la vie.