La Liga x ATP
Atletico Madrid draw no bet/Jannik Sinner ML (-112)
Backing a two leg parlay between Atletico Madrid in their La Liga season opener and Janik Sinner in the Cincinnati Open.
Going to start off with Sinner because this is the easier leg of the two in my opinion. Besides what they have done throughout this tournament Sinner is undoubtably the better player, in fact he is currently the best player in the world based off ATP rankings. Sinner ranking #1 while Tiafoe ranking #27. Playing head-to-head just 4 times in their career Sinner holds the edge 3-1 but I am going to ignore the first three matchups because they came in 2021, 2019 and 2019. Want to focus on the most recent which was in 2023 where Sinner won 6-3, 6-4. One matchup doesn’t really tell us much, but it will boost my confidence a little knowing that Sinner won relatively easily especially on a hard court like tonight’s matchup.
While betting tennis isn’t as easy as looking at the rankings and picking the better player, tonight may be an exception. Anyone who knows tennis knows that Sinner’s quality, especially on hard court, is simply a level above Tiafoe’s. Sinner went through a gauntlet in the last two rounds having to beat #6 Rublev and #3 Zverev. The only real challenge Tiafoe faced was in last night’s matchup against Hulger Rune where in all honesty he should have lost if it wasn’t for Rune blowing the match up 5-4 on serve in the third set.
After a thrilling match against Zverev last night you could argue that Sinner may not have the most rest, but the same could be said about Tiafoe. Both these guys are coming into this final gassed, so no real advantage either way in my eyes. I would love to see the American get this win before the US Open, but I don’t think it’s going to happen, Sinner is just on another level.
Onto the more difficult of the two legs in my opinion, Atletico Madrid draw no bet. Atletico is for sure the better team and should win this game outright but in a season opener, you just never know. One thing we do know is that they acquired Julian Alvarez from Manchester City, a huge name for the team and a huge piece for their offense. Still unsure if he will get the start today or if he will even play (I’m hoping he does), but if not, I am still confident in an Atletico win.
Besides Alvarez, Atletico also added Alexandre Sorloth from Villareal, a man that had 23 goals and 6 assists through 30 games in the La Liga last season. Atletico needed someone to replace Morata, and they filled his role with Sorloth and Alvarez. I am hoping that both Sorloth and Alvarez start with Griezman in behind them, that would be ideal in my opinion.
As I have said a hundred times over the past couple days, we never know what to expect in the first few games of the season, so I am going off history in this one. Atletico haven’t lost away to Villareal since 2018 and beat them both times last season (3-1 and 2-1). I don’t think anyone is going to argue that Atletico is the better team it’s just all about how they transition from last season to this season. Although they lost some important players, they made up for it in the new signings, I think Atletico start the season off on the right foot. GL.
