Berdych beats Djokovic to reach Wimbledon final

Tennis Betting Lines

07/02/2010 - Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Czech Tomas Berdych upended third- seeded Serbian star Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon on Friday to reach his first career Grand Slam final.

The 12th-seeded Berdych ousted the former Australian Open champion Djokovic 6-3, 7-6 (11-9), 6-3 on Centre Court at the storied All England Club. Djokovic was also a semifinal loser on the grass here three years ago.

The 6-foot-4 Berdych, who stunned defending champion and six-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer in four sets here on Wednesday, will meet the Rafael Nadal-Andy Murray semifinal victor in Sunday's lucrative men's finale.

Berdych captured the first set rather easily on Day 11 before Djokovic fought back in the second. The Serbian star, however, was unable to get back into the match by taking the second-set tiebreak and smashed his racquet after dropping the crucial stanza.

The third set was all Berdych, who broke Djokovic to grab a 5-3 lead when Djokovic, who was back on his heels throughout the match, came up with an untimely double fault, his eighth of the day.

Berdych, who simply crushed the tennis ball all day on Friday, set-up his first match point with a huge forehand winner, and wound up converting on his second match point by launching an unreturnable serve after 2 hours, 18 minutes of tennis.

The talented Berdych fired 11 aces among his 34 winners and broke Djokovic's serve three times, compared to only one break for the Serbian loser.

Berdych, who has now won 14 of his last 15 matches, was a semifinal loser at the French Open four weeks ago. He's into his first major final, playing in his 27th Grand Slam event.

The 23-year-old Djokovic appeared in his eight career major semi (2-6). He was the Aussie Open champ in 2008 and reached the Wimbledon final four in 2007, but was forced to retire against Nadal due to a foot injury while trailing in the third set that day.

The 24-year-old Berdych will appear in his 11th career ATP-level final, seeking a sixth title. He was a runner-up to Andy Roddick at this year's Miami Masters event and hasn't titled since running the table at a tournament in Munich last season.

The last Czech player to reach the Wimbledon final was the great Ivan Lendl in 1987. The lone male Czech titlist here was Jan Kodes back in 1973.

Jazzspirts Tennis Betting News

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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