Prediction
Ivo Karlović vs. Jimmy Wang 
Thursday, August 28th 2012, 16.00 CET
Tomorrow at the US Open there is going to be a match between the Croatioan Ivo Karlović, rnaked 75 in the ATP, and Jimmy Wang from China, number 182 in the ATP ranking.
At first sight, judging by the position of each player in the ATP rankigs, the result of the match seems pretty predictable. Ivo Karlović is the favorite at winning the match and qualifying for the second round at the US Open. Karlović is 6 years older than his competitor, which might be either good or bad for him. On one hand, it is good because he is much more experienced than the younger Jimmy Wang. On the other, a tennis player at 33 years is considered to be at the end of his career, so his physical strength and stamina might not be as good as his opponent’s. Moreover, there have been many times in tennis when an unknown player managed to defeat his much better ranked opponent and made a tournament’s surprise. However, I don’t think that this is going to be the case. Jimmy Wang’s performances have not been as bright as a professional tennis player as they used to be when he was a junior. His best results until now have been two Grand Slams finals, one at Australian Open with Janko Tipsarević and the other at US Open when he faced Gilles Müller, and one semifinal at Wimbledon with Roman Valent. That would sound really impressive if I wasn’t talking about a junior career. After that, his performance as a professional was flat and tasteless, and I don’t think that at 27 he is still able to make a surprise…but one never knows.
Both players are right-handed, and they both started playing tennis relatively late, Jimmy Wang at the age of seven and Ivo Karlović at the age of six. Even if Karlović’s results have also been declining due to the passing of years, he has always been much better ranked than his opponent. For example, while the highest position reached by Jimmy Wang in the ATP rankings was 85 in 2006, Ivo Karlović was even number 14 in 2008. In their only head to-head confrontation up to date, Karlović won.
Another difference that will undoubtedly matter will be the player’s physical condition, because Ivo Karlović is really huge (208 cm) in comparison with Jimmy Wang, who measures only 178 cm in height. Therefore, Karlović is definitely holding the advantage of the service.
In conclusion, I am going to place a bet on Karlović’s victory, and I am going to bet 5 units at 1.73. The odds I used are from William Hill.
Ivo Karlović to win for 5 units