Home Sports Bets on for third week in Wimbledon

Bets on for third week in Wimbledon

By DPA

London : More rain beckons as Wimbledon is making the weather-soaked Grand Slam a delight for punters.

Odds are now offered for the event to run onto a third week from next Monday instead of finishing with Sunday's men's final.

Punters are being offered low odds of just 2/1 that the event will roll into a third week thanks to rain on every day but last Thursday so far.

"We're praying that the rain stops pouring," said a Ladbrokes spokesman. "Not only will it breathe some life back into the betting but also because we stand to lose a fortune on a delayed finish.

"We're watching the weather forecasts just as much as we're watching the tennis. It's beginning to look grim for us."

*******
Arthurs ends his career under clouds

Dark Wimbledon storm clouds have marked the end of the tennis career of 36-year-old Wayne Arthurs.

The Australian played his final match as he lost the third-round clash in straight sets to fellow veteran Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden.

And as he previously advised, Arthurs says his tennis is done.

"It was very emotional actually. Sort of the stage was set in that last couple of games," said the winner of one career singles title.

"A big cloud ascended over the court and it was all dark. It felt like the end of my career sort of coming over the top of my head. It was a very strange atmosphere actually because it was so dark behind.

"It's pretty emotional, but I think I've accepted that over the last four or five months," said the Melbourne-based father of one.

"I knew that I was going to retire here, and there was a very small possibility that I was going to go on, and that would have been the fairytale."

Arthurs had said that if he made the quarterfinals, he might reconsider his decision to pack it in.