Who has won the most Grand Slam tennis tournaments in history?

Rafa Nadal produced one of the great comebacks of all time to win the Australian Open and in doing so became the 1^st man to win 21 Grand Slam tournaments, breaking the three-way tie he’s been in with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Looking dead and buried at 2-0 down in sets against top seed Daniil Medvedev, the 35-year-old Spaniard launched a comeback that will live long in the memory, eventually triumphing 2-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 7-5 to lift the trophy in Melbourne for the 1^st time since 2009. Federer was 1^st to 20 Grand Slams, in 2017, before being joined by Nadal, who had won the French Open in 2020 as his 20^th, and Djokovic, in winning last year’s Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon.

Total Points (settled at 371)

We told in Friday’s blog how the buyers had been out in force, predicting the men’s final would be a long, drawn out slug fest, with the overs of interest in a series of markets, like total points, games and sets. As the second set tiebreaker went to Medvedev it looked more than likely that the Russian would back up his US Open title with a straight sets defeat of Nadal in this final, and overs backers would be left to lick their wounds. But never underestimate the heart of a champion, and Nadal produced some of his best tennis in years to first of all make a fight of it, and then go on to peg back and beat his younger opponent. The Total Points market was set at 253-260, so buyers won 111 times their bets in one of the greatest Grand Slam finals ever seen.

Who won the T20 cricket series between England and the West Indies?

England went down 3-2 to the West Indies in a fascinating T20 series that was wrapped up this weekend. After both sides had won two games each, Sunday’s decider swung one way and then the other before Jason Holder, bowling the last over with a 20-run advantage to protect, took four wickets in four balls to send the Barbados crowd home happy. The Windies had posted a challenging 179-4 but England looked on track to chase it down until James Vince was out off the top edge for 55. Even as they prepared for the final 6 balls, England were on the same score as the West Indies had found themselves, but while the hosts made 19, England scored 2, lost 4 wickets, lost the match by 17 runs and the series 3-2!

Launch! (settled at 1100)

This market is made up of the highest scoring over in the match x the highest individual batsman’s score. After the fireworks of the earlier matches in the series, where both teams were scoring over 200, and the likes of Rovman Powell scoring centuries, the Launch! spread had been set for 1625-1725. With the series on the line though, neither team found batting so easy, and Vince’s 55 was the highest score, while Sam Billings and Chris Jordan taking 20 off the 18^th over was the highest over score. Sellers therefore made a decent profit, making 525 times their stake.

Who will play in the 2022 Super Bowl?

Cincinnati Bengals shocked the Kansas City Chiefs, beating them in overtime to make their 1^st Super Bowl in 33 years, and they will have the toughest of opponents, an LA Rams team playing in front of their home fans. It’s the 2^nd year running – having never happened before that in the game’s history – a team has qualified for a home Super Bowl after Tampa Bay won it in front of their own fans a year ago. For a long time it looked like the Rams were going to pass up their golden chance to make it, entering the 4^th quarter 10 points behind at 17-7. But a year to the day since his trade to LA, quarterback Matthew Stafford dragged his team back into it, with Cooper Kupp catching two TD passes. Matt Gay kicked a 30-yard field goal to break the 17-17 tie with two minutes left, and the Rams just about held on.

Cooper Kupp Super Mega Minutes (settled at 116)

In a low scoring encounter, buyers of Cooper Kupp’s TD minutes and Super Mega Minutes – which takes the TD minutes and doubles the minute of any 2^nd score and trebles that of any 3^rd – must have been worried as the Rams entered the final quarter without their man getting on the scoresheet. But as LA stormed back into the game, QB Stafford looked to his main man and Kupp managed a pair of scoring catches. His Super Mega Minutes were set at 35-42, meaning buyers made a profit of 74 times their bet.