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ODDSbible Tennis: Why Kevin Anderson Will Beat Kyle Edmund At Roland Garros

ODDSbible Tennis: Why Kevin Anderson Will Beat Kyle Edmund At Roland Garros

The big-serving South African should have no problem with Edmund.

Anonymous

Anonymous

Realistically, I could sit here and write an essay on why Anderson will beat Edmund in the Last 16 at Roland Garros, but I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Kyle Edmund's record against big-servers over 6'4 is atrocious. He's won four and lost eight of his matches against that type of player, and if you remove Lukas Rosol from that list he's won just two of those 10 games.

The only significant win Edmund has over an exceptional server is a 6-4 3-6 6-2 7-6(5) win over John Isner at the 2016 US Open. In that three-hour match he created just four break point chances, which is incredibly poor. Granted, he took three of those (compared to Isner's 1/7) but it's unlikely he'll get that lucky against a big server ever again.

Edmund is a poor returner. He uses a fully-Western grip on the forehand, which is extreme and gives him less control. Anderson has one of the best serves in the world, meaning Edmund will find it incredibly difficult to get break point chances.

Anderson's also a much better returner than his opponent. The Brit has a decent serve but he's likely to concede break points to the South African, who is much more experienced and playing better right now than Edmund. He's also much stronger mentally, especially in the key stages of the match - making it more likely he'll break.

The big-servers Edmund has played in his career are also incredibly reliant on their service games, where Anderson isn't. The World no. 56 is clean on both the forehand and backhand, moves freely and most significantly, has an exceptionally better return that anyone else on that list.

Going back to the aforementioned mental issue, Edmund's game in that respect is weak. Against big servers, your own service is under immense pressure and Edmund's record against them shows he can't deal with that aspect. If he gets broken in a set, he knows that the set is probably gone and lets his head drop.

I backed Anderson and Kyrgios in the previous rounds and therefore watched the match fairly closely and analysed it myself afterwards.

The level is playing at right now is close to how he was performing before his injuries as an ATP Top Ten player. He has a vast amount of experience in his career against one-dimensional players with little more than a big forehand to allow himself to be caught out in this game.

I think there is a very small chance Anderson plays a flat game and loses here so the 8/13 on offer at Ladbrokes represents huge value for me.

Words By: PGFootyTips


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