Serena and Venus bid to win their eighth title in ten years

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Photo Credit: Fiona Hanson/PA Wire

Between them, the Williams sisters have won seven of the last nine ladies’ singles titles at Wimbledon, reaching the final a further four times and winning the ladies’ doubles three times for good measure. With Maria Sharapova already out and Dinara Safina fresh from bottling yet another Grand Slam final at Roland Garros last month, it looks like they could be left fighting each other again. Here’s a look at the five favourites in the betting:

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Serena Williams
Serena is the most successful active women’s tennis player with ten Grand Slams but she hasn’t won Wimbledon since 2003, a Grand Slam drought only topped by her seven year (and counting) wait for a second French Open title. The woman named second seed has only won Wimbledon twice in the last 16 years but they were on both of the occasions that a Williams sister held that position - Venus in 2001 and Serena in 2002. There have been just five occasions in the Open Era where the losing lady has come back to win the following year and the last to do so was Jana Novotna 11 years ago.

Venus Williams
Venus has dominated Wimbledon this decade, reaching seven finals and winning five - including three of the last four - but has a fair way to go before rivalling Martina Navratilova (nine) and Steffi Graf (seven) as SW19’s greatest Open Era champion. She hasn’t been in great form recently, winning

Posted: June 25th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Joe Swash 1/6 to be crowned King of the Jungle tonight

van Day’s exit leaves ex-Eastender miles ahead in the betting

Joe Swash is now generally 1/6 to win I’m a Celebrity after David van Day, his closest rival in the betting, was sent packing.

That means that there is little opportunity to make money on tonight’s finale, with the best chance possibly being to hope van Day’s voters switch to George Takei to enable him to finish ahead of Martina Navratilova in second.

In Sky Bet’s straight forecast market it is just 8/13 for Martina to finish second to Joe but for George to finish behind the ex-Eastender is 7/4, which means that even though it’s an outside chance, it’s the most likely bet of any value to make money from tonight.

Posted: December 5th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

David van Day starts to close the gap on Joe Swash

Wind-up merchant drops from 9/1 to 11/4 in under 24 hours

Yesterday chickendinner spoke about the reports that David van Day was topping the phone vote and since then the former Dollar singer’s Paddy Power odds have plummeted from 9/1 to just 11/4.

Considering George Takei and Martina Navratilova haven’t contributed much in terms of entertainment recently he stands a very strong chance of making the final two.

Posted: December 4th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

George Takei overtakes Joe Swash as I’m a Celeb favourite

Will the Star Trek actor become the first ever foreign winner?

George Takei has overtaken actor Joe Swash as the favourite to win this year’s I’m a Celebrity after the show kicked off last night. The Star Trek actor was 8/1 on Friday afternoon but has dropped to 5/2 with Swash close behind at 11/4 with Paddy Power.

There has never previously been a foreign winner but it’s been getting closer and closer with Australia’s Jason Donovan coming third two years ago and America’s Janice Dickinson coming second last year. Martina Navratilova is third favourite at a general 5/1, though you can back her at 6/1 with Paddy Power.

Carly Zucker is still 7/1 with Bet365 to finish as top female despite a promising first episode. Joe Cole’s WAG may also gain sympathy if Robert Kilroy-Silk continues to antagonise her.

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Posted: November 17th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | 2 Comments

I’m a Celebrity: The Women

Three WAGs, a lesbian and Esther Rantzen

There have only ever been two female winners of I’m a Celebrity but these five women will be battling it out to change that and earn the right to proudly declare themselves the new Kerry Katona:

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Carly Zucker
The personal trainer’s main claim to fame is being Joe Cole’s fiancée and while providing eye-candy keeps you in the jungle for a while, no glamour model or WAG has ever won. Zucker is this year’s youngest contestant and is just a year older than Kerry Katona was when she became the first-ever female winner.

Dani Behr
As well as dating Ryan Giggs and Les Ferdinand, TV presenter Behr used to go out with Jason Brown, who finished third in last year’s show. She won’t find it too difficult to adapt to the Australian climate because she currently lives in Sydney, where series five winner Carol Thatcher also spent four years of her life.

Esther Rantzen
In three of the last four series the top woman has been over the age of fifty: Janet Street-Porter (fourth, series four), Carol Thatcher (first, series five) and Janice Dickinson (second, series seven) while in series three Jennie Bond came second behind Kerry Katona. Last year’s oldest woman, Lynne Franks, came ninth but Rantzen should be nowhere near as annoying as her.

Posted: November 16th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment