ATP Bastad, 1st round, Tuesday, 16.07.2024, 14:30
Nadal vs Borg – a generational duel for the history books. Tennis legend Rafael Nadal takes on the son of icon Björn Borg, Leo, in Bastad, Sweden.
He is unable to build on the successes of the eleven-time Grand Slam winner. His son Borg is ranked just above the top 500 in the ATP rankings. Like Nadal, he has received a wild card for the tournament in his home country.
I found tasty odds for this big-name duel at Tipwin. Nadal is the heavy favorite, but I think Borg can win four games
Nadal and Björn Borg have missed each other by nine years in the tennis world. Together, the superstars of their sport have 33 Grand Slam titles. At least on the Playstation, fans were able to replay this duel when both characters were integrated into video game series.
In the real tennis world, it will now be Nadal versus Borg Junior, with the 21-year-old son of the tennis legend joining the top players as a wildcard. He has only won one out of eight clay court matches in lower scoring tournaments.
At the 250 tournament in Bastad, he is the big underdog of all players in the top sports betting apps. One thing is clear, and you’ve already drawn this from the odds comparison above, the result is only a question of how high
1.01 odds for Nadal, dizzying double-digit odds for Borg, who has had much more to cheer about on hard court this year. Over his still young career, he has won just 47 percent of his matches on clay.
With five defeats under his belt, he travels home for the biggest match of his career against the player with the second most Grand Slam trophies in his cabinet. Borg only has ITF trophies to his name so far, all of which he has won on hardcourt.
Among other things, he remained unbeaten five times in Kingston two months ago and only dropped one set. However, we are talking about a tournament in which the total prize money is just 15,000 US dollars. Bastad is only a 250 on the ATP Tour, but already distributes 651,000 US dollars to the players
Even the 2:0 for Nadal is actually not worth mentioning with the 1.07. A missing tiebreak at 1.05 is just as little, and the combination of the two doesn’t offer top odds either. That’s why I’m switching to a games bet in this case.
The market is very interesting with clear differences in winning odds. Tipwin has a 1.50 in its betting program for over 15.5 games. Borg must win four games in the entire match for this to happen. He can afford two double breaks in each set if he opens the match with his serve.
At least the young Borg did not suffer a big defeat. 17 games in a row his matches went over 15.5 games. And Nadal? He has won at least 16 games in 43 of the last 44 two-set matches.
The difference in class will definitely be apparent, but I don’t expect a total thrashing. Especially as Nadal has only played the first round of Roland Garros in the last two months and was only back on court for the doubles opener with Casper Ruud
In addition, this is not Borg’s first appearance on the bigger stage. As the son of Björn Borg, he permanently receives wildcards for the tournaments in Stockholm and Bastad and he didn’t sell himself badly.
A straight sets win against Tommy Paul, a first round match last year in Bastad. In 2021, he also won six matches against Paul and four against Francisco Cerundolo.
Against the top elite, he has at least been able to produce individual moments of brilliance and has only once dropped below 15.5 games at 250 level.
By the way, odds boost hunters should keep an eye on our corresponding page for increased odds. For the numerous tennis tournaments, there are always offers from our bookies at the moment!
My Nadal Borg tip
I haven’t found Nadal really convincing yet after his long comeback, he hasn’t gotten very far in the tournaments. Nevertheless, the second most successful player in history is still way ahead in the tournament win odds due to his enormous playing ability.
He has only played one men’s singles match in the past two months and Borg has only once played fewer than 15 matches in his now numerous appearances in Stockholm and Bastad, which are always a highlight for him.
It might not be enough for a big surprise in the epic Nadal Borg pairing, but a complete downgrade should also be avoided. After all, the Swede has already taken a set against Tommy Paul, who is currently ranked 13th in the world.
Nadal has developed well towards the French Open and presented his best match against Zverev, but ultimately he has had a longer break from competition and is rated a little too strong in my eyes in the odds. That’s why I definitely see value in my bet.
My Nadal Borg tip: Over 15.5 games
