Murray a major flop

SPORTS BETTING: WILL Andy Murray win a Grand Slam tennis tournament?

Or will he go the same way as another top British sportsman, golfer Colin Montgomerie, who could never complete the job in his sport’s ultimate competitions?

Murray fans might not like me saying this, but I do fear for him.

Everything was in his favour at Wimbledon last week. The Scot had an easy passage to the semi-finals, he was in top form and semi-final opponent Rafa Nadal was out of sorts in the first set of their match.

But Murray simply could not nail him when he had the chance in the second set and from then on he was steamrollered by a player who himself lost quite heavily in the final.

New champion Novak Djokovic - tipped in this column at 15-4 - is the 2-1 favourite for the next Grand Slam, the US Open at Flushing Meadow.

That looks a fair price with Nadal (3-1) constantly battling injury problems, Roger Federer (5-1) on the way down and Murray (15-2) seemingly incapable of crossing the winning line.

But the bookies reckon there is a player to challenge the top four in Juan Martin Del Potro (8-1), the 2009 US Open champion.

Recovered from injury, the Argentinian shaped well at Wimbledon and can only improve as he regains match sharpness.


MOTOR racing is not my scene, but there are plenty of you out there who love Formula 1 so Sunday’s British Grand Prix will be right up your street.
The season continues to be dominated by Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team which makes it no surprise that the German is 5-6 favourite to win at Silverstone.

Lewis Hamilton is 11-2 to make it a British success - the same price as Fernando Alonso - while Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber is 7-1 and England’s Jenson Button 12s.


RORY McIlroy’s runaway victory in golf’s US Open has sparked a landslide of bets on the youngster for next week’s British equivalent at Royal St George’s, Sandwich.
McIlroy is a best-priced 6-1, with Lee Westwood - who is in danger of becoming the next Montgomerie in failing to land a major championship his talent deserves - at 10-1.