Henin - good value at 7/4 to win a Slam.
BOOKIES OFFER BELGIAN BONUS
By Andy Schooler
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Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters return to the WTA Tour on a full-time basis in 2010 and how they will fare is one of the big pre-season debates.
Not surprisingly the bookies are hardly singing from the same hymn sheet regarding their likely performances and so now looks like a good time to make them pay.
In short, 2009 was not a vintage year for the women's game, the season being dominated by an argument about who was the true number one - Serena Williams (who ended up with the top honour) and Dinara Safina.
It wasn't always this way.
Henin was widely regarded as the best by some margin when she surprisingly quit in May 2008.
But having seen new mother Clijsters return briefly in the summer of last season - during which time she spectacularly won the US Open just weeks into her comeback - Henin now fancies her chances of returning to the top of the game.
Who can blame her?
Since leaving the sport she's seen her one time peers throw the number one ranking around like a hot potato - Williams, Safina, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova have all held it over past 18 months.
Unlike Clijsters, she's not given birth in her time 'away' from the courts - in fact she's been heavily involved with running her own tennis academy in Belgium.
Her time away is also less - Clijsters missed more than two years; Henin will return after 19 months.
But perhaps most important to those looking to back Henin this season is the fact that she is the most determined of competitors - only Serena can really be considered Henin's equal on the mental side of the game. Take it as read that she won't be coming back just to make up the numbers.
So, if Clijsters can win so soon upon returning, then surely Henin is capable of surging back and winning at the highest level once more.
Coral certainly think so. They have her odds on to win one of the four Grand Slam titles in 2010.
totesport, however, are out at 7/4 about this occurrence and that's a price we're happy to snap up.
To put it into context, some other firms have Henin at 7/4 simply to win the French Open - a tournament she won four times in five years immediately prior to her 'retirement' - so taking totesport's offer and getting three more chances for your money has to be of some value.
The pint-sized Belgian was dominant on the clay but she was hardly a one-surface player. She also won three hardcourt Grand Slams in her first career and as already stated, we're pretty convinced she'll at least be going to close to winning such tournaments again.
One of the main obstacles standing in her way at the majors may well be compatriot Clijsters.
Having played just four tournaments in 2009, she's intending to play at least 12 events this coming season.
Given what we saw on the North Amercian hardcourts - and in particular New York where her forehand was simply devastating - you have to feel the former world number one will be challenging towards the top of the ranking list.
She, too, can play on clay, having twice reached the final of the French Open and only the grass is a relative weakness for Clijsters, although having said that she twice made the semis at Wimbledon.
Again the layers disagree quite wildy about her chances for 2010 - Stan James will give you 10/1 about her finishing the year as world number one, but Ladbrokes offer just 10/3.
We're certainly tempted by 10/1, but with a less-than-packed schedule we are instead are going to get with both Belgians in Sportingbet's year-end number one market.
Here, you can get both Henin and Clijsters on your side for the price of 3/1.
The duo fall in the 'any other' category in a market topped by Serena Williams and which also includes Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Dementieva and Venus Williams as the named players.
Given you will also get former world number ones Jankovic, Ivanovic and Sharapova on your side for your money - not to mention one of the tour's rising stars Victoria Azarenka - this looks the way to go.
In reality, we feel Serena offers the main threat to the Belgians - Ladbrokes agree as the American is the only player above Henin and Clijsters in their market.
However, Serena is a pretty warm favourite in the market, available at a best price of 5/2.
She may have won two Slams in 2009 but her injury record is not great and the fact is she was pushed hard for the top ranking by Safina, a player who at times was awful last season and one who has yet to win a major.
Our theory is Serena will have to play better this season if she is top remain top dog.
She may well do so - it would be folly to write her off - but the Belgians provide the ante-post value.
The other season-long bet we like the look of comes courtesy of Sportingbet, who put British youngsters Laura Robson and Heather Watson up against each other in a match bet.
It's Robson we like here given it's 5/6 each of two.
A look at their world rankings at present shows Robson with a considerable lead - she's at 402 at present, compared to Watson at 552.
Admittedly many of her points came from US Open qualifying where she won two rounds, but her performances in New York also help explain why we want to back her.
There she beat a player ranked in the top 130, while in Luxembourg in October, Robson saw off top-80 star Julia Goerges.
Think back to Wimbledon and you will remember Robson pushing world number 32 Daniela Hantuchova to three sets, a result which followed a narrow defeat to top-50 player Iveta Benesova at the end of 2008.
While it's easy to point out most of these matches have ended in defeat, they show Robson is not too far away from challenging at a very good level.
Certainly she's looks capable of winning matches on the WTA Tour in the near future - not bad for a 15-year-old - and it's likely she will play more senior events over the next 12 months.
Reigning US Open junior champion Watson is two years older and judging by her father's comments, she's likely to play largely at senior level in 2010.
If she does play a full programme, she will certainly have one advantage in her year-long race with Robson, but the fact is that her senior results so far have not been as good.
In fact she's had just one senior win over a player ranked in the top 300 and that was against fellow Briton Mel South, someone whose game she more than likely already knew pretty well.
If Watson is scratching around for results on the ITF circuit, it's easy to envisage Robson being well ahead in this match bet simply by winning a couple of matches of the main tour - and given her displays against top-quality players so far, it's more than likely she will be handed a few wild cards.
We're not writing off Watson's chances of becoming a star just yet, but it's widely regarded in tennis circles that of the pair it's Robson who is the better player.
We expect her to prove this in 2010, one which sees her turn 16 and is therefore likely to be seen as crucial to her development by her camp and those at the LTA.
The 2010 WTA Tour season gets under way at 0030 GMT on January 3.
Preview posted at 1110GMT on 21/12/2009.
