Thiem a rising star

The championship play-off semi-finals did not work out as I expected, although no one can comprehend how Fulham failed to overcome reading in the second leg at the Madjeski. I find the final against Huddersfield very difficult to call and shall not be betting.

Crystal Palace overcoming Hull meant that we ended the season with a winner and it was a very good campaign for us overall, with a long successful run early in the new year. The main ante-post recommendations, Newcastle and Sheffield United, both obliged and Spurs were safe enough at a big price each-way.

We shall have a pause now before concentrating on tennis, where one of the most interesting aspects concerns Novak Djokovic’s gradual return to form now that he has broken with his former coaching team. His on-court attitude still fails to impress and attempts to engage the crowd are not only irritating but probably annoy his opponents. I can see the improvement but I still doubt that he will scale former heights and, even if he beats Juan-Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals of the Italian he will still have a very hard task against Dominic Thiem.

Thiem is a rising star and, together with Alexander Zverev, is likely to create quite an impression in the remaining majors. It would not surprise me if one of them landed the current tournament, where I just fancy THIEM to overcome Djolovic (if the Serb completes the job against del Potro) and go all the way.