Newyorkjrts Tennis Betting News

<< Lee leads Warriors over Suns
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Lee finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds and the Warriors snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Suns with a 102-96 victory. Monta Ellis chipped in 18 points and Klay Thompson netted 10

<< Hornets' Gordon to have surgery, out another six weeks
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hornets shooting guard Eric Gordon will miss another six weeks after he undergoes arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Tuesday. Gordon first suffered the injury in the season opener against Ph

<< Butler returns to Dallas, but Mavs snag win
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Caron Butler was welcomed by a standing ovation when he accepted his NBA championship ring Monday night, but the Clippers forward received a bigger hand from the American Airlines Center crowd when he missed

<< No. 2 Connecticut thumps Oklahoma
Norman, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiffany Hayes poured in a game-high 23 points to go with six rebounds, seven assists and three steals as second-ranked Connecticut easily took down Oklahoma, 73-55, on Monday. Bria Hartley had 20 poin

Heat finish hectic stretch in Indy >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat try to continue one of their best starts in team history this evening when they visit the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Miami kept rolling on Monday, as LeBron James scored 35 points to lead the

Spurs resume lengthy trek vs. Pistons >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs are starting to pick up their game on the road and will resume a nine-game Rodeo Road Trip tonight against the lowly Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Spurs have won seven in a row ov

Rockets wrap up road trip in Memphis >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets will wrap up a six-game road trip tonight against the Southwest Division-rival Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum. The Rockets are 3-2 on the journey and suffered a 106-97 loss at Golden State the last ti

Bulls open homestand against Kings >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Back home after a successful and lengthy road trip, the Central Division-leading Chicago Bulls are scheduled to play their next six games on familiar territory and will host the Sacramento Kings tonight. The Bulls own an E

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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