Ben Shelton

This really is exciting.

So you've got Zverev, Alcaraz and Ben Shelton who have all qualified.

And then from 5th down to 13th, you've got Medvedev, Kabaly, Fies, Tiafoe, Hodar, Duminor, Djokovic, Fritz and Tommy Paul all playing this week in Vienna or Basel and all with a chance to qualify.

So playing in Vienna, We have round ones that include Alexander Zverev against Martin Lander-Luthe.

I think that's tricky.

Hubert Hercatch has got Zizou Berg in round one and Artefis has got Giovanni Pesci-Péricard.

We also have Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Kasper Ruud, Raphael Hodar, Holger Ruhner and Alex Mickelson all in the draw in Basel.

It's giving some real life to this time of the season, isn't it, Charlie, which can sometimes, well, feel in need of revival.

Carlos Alcaraz, qualified.

Ben Shelton, qualified.

Now, who is left? We got Novak Djokovic.

Medi looks good.

It's not likely, but I feel like he's...

This is kind of vintage where we want him to be, right? We want him to care and to dig in.

And I think what... has always sort of been a little underwhelming to me about the American dudes is, you know, and setting aside Ben Shelton, who's already qualified, obviously, he made the finals at the US Open this year, but, like, they kind of putter out and I don't know that they have, I don't know that they're that tough.

Being in Europe for an extended period of time is, by the way, a dream.

let's see how far she gets because yeah you know she does have a habit of only playing one matching singles but might do well in the doubles with jen um i was going to ask you to do the men's side because the men's i'll do the headlight um vienna And Basel.

So Vienna has got Alcaraz and Zverev and Shelton, I think.

No, Shelton might be Basel.

Yeah, I

think Shelton's in Basel.

Djokovic is in Basel.

I know that because there was a big fuss of him suddenly adding that to his calendar.

Now for the odds to win the event, Reminder shop around.

Shelton's at 550, former finalist.

Djokovic is at 650.

He won this event back in 2009, so it's been a long time, but still former champion.

So, for the favorite...

I'll start off with the basics here.

Should Shelton be the pure solo favorite in this event? His path is not that easy.

Kovacic is a lucky loser in round one, who could be tricky on fast, hard courts.

So once again, a great serve is necessary for success in this event.

Now for the odds to win the event, a reminder shop around a Shelton's at five 50, former finalist Joker, which is at six 50.

He won this event back in 2009.

So it's been a long time, but still former champion fees ended up dropping.

So, for the favorite...

I'll start off with the basics here.

Should Shelton be the pure solo favorite in this event? His path is not that easy.

Kovacic is a lucky loser in round one, who could be tricky on fast, hard courts.

So the players that I have bet, I've bet Bartunkova at 50-1, I've bet Maria Sakkari, you can get 60-1 at Rivers, 55-1 at FanDuel, and then I've bet Sasnovic, actually 125 was the number at BetRivers, it was 100s at DraftKings, and Jasmine Paolini at 50-1, just in case she could sneak past Naomi Osaka.

in round one so those are the girls that I've bet there again you can see I'm avoiding the top of the market and I do think if there's a time of the year to avoid the top of the market and the big names it's the end of the season usually because a lot of these players aren't really playing for anything and they're already thinking about the Maldives or wherever they're going on their holidays so I do think sometimes the top players are less motivated and there can be value further down the field okay just because Basil was the next one that came to my fingers and now I've lost my mouse one moment I want to open up the draw here ATP Basel Swiss indoors alright let's go Basel is apparently super fast which I love obviously I said that about Guangzhou but Basel is super fast it's about the same speed as we saw in Brussels this week and we all could see how fast Brussels was so that's really exciting in 2025 Joan Fonseca defeated Alejandro Davidovic Fokina that was before Fokina ever had a title he now has three as we know The year before, Giovanni Mpesci-Péricard defeated Ben Shelton.

That kind of gives you a hint about the surface here.

And then in 2023, Félix Auger-Eliassime defeated Hubi Hurkacz.

And you're going to have to take the very, very few chances you get to beat him.

So that will be really interesting.

Ben Shelton heads us up here as the top seed.

There are no buys in this tournament.

That's two.

Shelton has qualified.

That's three.

Everything else is still not official yet.