Aegon International - Eastbourne. Not a good start

Down 20.3%.  Bankroll 79.70.


I started the day looking at matches that I felt comfortable with and matches that were going to be televised.  While I think it's possible to successfully trade matches that aren't on TV, I do think that it's more risky.  After looking at the matches I didn't see anything that I wanted to trade at the UNICEF Open so I decided to wait until the afternoon Men's matches at the Aegon International.

While waiting for the Tsonga v Stepanek I decided to start trading the S. Williams v Zvonareva.  After a set and a half and even though Williams was up a set and a break I decided that backing Zvonareva at 8.10 was a good idea.  Williams had played a long match yesterday and this was turning out to be another long one.  Considering Serena hadn't played a match in several months and the fact that she was having to take breathers after long points I figured she would start to breakdown a bit.  My intuition was correct as Zvonareva forced her to a tiebreaker and eventually a 3rd set.  With an early break in the first set Zvonareva was going off at 1.31.  A huge difference.  I wish I had held out that long, but I took profits much earlier.  Nonetheless I was happy with my profits on this match.  Zvonareva ended up winning the match in the third set.

Finallly the Tsonga/Stepanek match started.  I backed Tsonga from the beginning and to my dismay he was immediately broken in the opening game.  I 'greened' up on this trade or 'redded' after he lost the first set for a major loss.  Luckily I had made a decent gain on Zvonareva earlier or it would've been worse.

One lesson from today.  At lesser tournaments such as the Aegon International or even Queen's top players don't always play their best.  For instance it would be much more surprising to see Tsonga top Nadal at a grandslam or even a master's series event, but he did so at Queens.  Same goes for Stepanek v Tsonga.  Tsonga was down a break and laughing at the Aegon International because it's not that big of a deal.  As I write this he is down a set and a break, but I still have confidence that he could come back.  I have to go for a school function.  Will be back tomorrow!