Federer, Henin are top seeds for Wimbledon

Tennis Betting Lines

06/20/2007 - Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Federer and Justine Henin have been installed as the top seeds at Wimbledon, which begins next Monday at the venerable All England Club.

Federer enters the third Grand Slam event of the year as the four-time defending champion, but comes off a disappointing loss to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final. The Swiss superstar will try to become the first man to win five straight Wimbledon crowns since the great Bjorn Borg accomplished the feat from 1976-80, and he will attempt to do so without a grass-court tuneup.

After the loss to Nadal in Paris, Federer skipped his usual Wimbledon tuneup in Halle, Germany and is not playing either of the two warmup tournaments this week.

Nadal has been seeded second at Wimbledon. The reigning three-time French Open champ reached the final at the All England Club last July, but lost to Federer in four sets.

American Andy Roddick, a two-time runner-up to Federer on the hallowed grounds of the London suburb, has been seeded third, followed by Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, Britain's Andy Murray, American James Blake and Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.

Wimbledon seeds its players by using the ATP rankings. The top 32 ranked players are seeded, but rearranged on a surface-based system. For example, Berdych is ranked 11th by the ATP, but seeded seventh at Wimbledon.

Henin, coming off her third straight French Open crown, is the top women's player in the world and earned the top seed for Wimbledon despite never winning the title.

The Belgian star is a two-time runner-up, though, losing to France's Amelie Mauresmo in a three-set thriller last year and falling to American Venus Williams in another three-setter in 2001.

Russia's Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion, is this year's second seed, while rising Serb star Jelena Jankovic is third. Jankovic is coming off a victory over Sharapova in the title match of the grass tuneup in Birmingham after losing to Henin in the French semifinals.

Mauresmo, who has struggled to recover from an appendectomy earlier this year, will defend her Wimbledon crown as this year's fourth seed. She will be followed by Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova and French runner-up Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

Two-time Wimbledon champ Serena Williams is seeded seventh. She won the coveted crown in 2002 and 2003, beating sister Venus both times, then lost to Sharapova in the '04 final.

Russia's Anna Chakvetadze, 1997 champ Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia round out the top 10 seeds.

Venus Williams, the champion here in 2000, 2001 and 2005, is seeded 24th.

The draw is scheduled to be released on Friday.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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