Rolling right along at the Cincinnati Masters and yesterday’s VIP only player pool lagged out quite well. But we are back for another free (for now) article/picks. That being said, I’ll have a handful of other plays in Slack that are again just for VIPs. The way the salaries break out today I think the common strategy will be one punt and five decent sized favorites. I agree with that approach but we still need to find the right plays…let’s dive in.
For Tennis, I use an odds-based approach, mixing in current form and playing surface history. This article will be free for now and probably move to VIP only when the U.S. Open starts. That’s no reason to wait to become a VIP member with baseball in full swing and football around the corner…not to mention that signing up now locks in your price for Become a VIP and use code SNIPER to get a 10% discount automatically applied to your account each and every month.
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MY TENNIS ACES FOR AUGUST 15
Slate Locks at 11:00 am ET
Novak Djokovic ($9,500) – I’m clearly not blowing anyone’s mind with this pick but there are salary savers out there today and the Joker is my favorite cash play at the top of the board. It’s also a rare day that Djokovic isn’t the most expensive player on the slate, so I’ll take the small discount. Djokovic has played Adrian Mannarino three times and is yet to drop a set. Winner of 10 of his last 11, I expect the surging former World #1 to continue his return from injury with a deep run in Cincinnati and it’s hard to envision Mannarino derailing that.
Sloane Stephens ($9,000) – Yes, a second player priced over $9k – don’t worry I have a punt (as always) at the end to make up for it. Stephens is a great hard-court player with an 11-2 record in her last 13 and her most recent loss was a three-set battle with world #1 Simone Halep in a tournament final. Meanwhile, Tatjana Maria was pushed to the limit by Allie Kiick yesterday and had her serve broken throughout the match. That’s should spell disaster vs. the American.
Kevin Anderson ($8,300) – The world rankings are always in flux but it always catches my eye to get the sixth-ranked player right at the mid-range mark. It also helps that he’s a -300 favorite against a player in Jeremy Chardy who broke a three-match losing streak against an equally struggling Fernando Verdasco. Anderson is flying high after his Wimbledon final appearance, paired with the poor form of Chardy puts the big South African firmly on my radar.
Arya Sabalenka ($5,900) – I promised you a cheap player and I won’t disappoint. Though there is an interesting pivot that I’ll save for Slack. Simply put, Sabalenka is too cheap at $5,900 for her +115 odds to win. She gutted out a three set win over the surging Johanna Konta in the first round and reached the third round last week with a win over Caroline Wozniacki before a close loss to Elise Mertens. Sabalenka gets a top-10 opponent who has been winking but facing a ton of break points. I expect this one to be close and Sabalenka tops my list of punts for Wednesday.
That’s it guys and girls! Please jump into Slack and find me to talk about the slate and definitely let me know how we can improve our Tennis coverage at DFS Army. If you’re not a VIP member with access to Slack Chat, join today and use code SNIPER for 10% off! It’s a new DFS game and I look forward to watching it evolve with the rest of you.