The area where tournament index should give opportunities is for the outsiders who you believe have a chance to make progress in a tournament, even if they will not actually win it. This in current times probably particularly applies to the women’s game, where the dominance of Venus and Serena Williams shows no sign of ending. Since between them the sisters take such a major share out of any tournament index, it has to leave value further down the tournament lists.

 

As with golf tournaments, there are players who come to form at the same time every year and favour particular tournaments. Needless to say, research can highlight the players who have a chance that others may have overlooked. Where tennis does differ markedly from golf, however, is that an injured player’s chance of progressing is severely limited. The stamina and power of the modern game as well as the physical demands of a tournament where players face a match every two days means that players need to be 100 per cent healthy to compete.

 

The most popular spread market on the games themselves is the set supremacy. This awards 10 points for winning the match and 3 points for each set won by (so in a men’s match, the maximum make-up for a 3-0 sets win would be 19). The only firm with a different scoring system is Sporting, who award 5 points for each set won.