US Open Betting: Super cool Federer will up his game again

My turn next: Roger Federer sees Wimbledon as the start and not the end

Roger Federer just missed out on that 18th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon but, after meeting the Swiss star, Ralph Ellis reckons he is in good shape for New York and is pleasantly surprised by the double figure price on offer...

You get clues about good bets from odd places - but Fulham signing a player from FC Basel has to be the strangest way to find the winner of the US Open.

So here's the story. There were two of us chosen to meet Roger Federer at Wimbledon on Saturday lunchtime, on behalf of the other Sunday papers. He had a round of TV interviews to do, didn't want to add a full blown formal press conference, so said he'd give five minutes of his time and the quotes could be shared round.

Down in the bowels of the SW19 media building we shuffled into a room to meet the seven-times champion, who walked in full of smiles and bonhomie.

My colleague, a Fulham supporter, decided he'd break the ice with the line that "my team have just signed a player from your team".

The next thing we knew, Federer was giving us a detailed rundown on the strengths and weaknesses of Kay Voser.

(For the benefit of any other Craven Cottage fans, apparently he's a very solid and hard working right-back/midfielder who gives his all for the team, fought off some quality opposition to win his place last season after recovering from a bad injury, but is a bit limited when it comes to attacking options. Sounds as if he'd fit right in.)

Anyway, we nearly wasted our entire five minutes talking football, but thankfully Roger (by now my new best friend), was so relaxed he gave us another six minutes before a flunky insisted he moved on to the next microphone.

Laid back was barely the half of it. Federer, on the brink of trying to make history with an eighth Wimbledon title, was a man completely comfortable in his own skin. He talked about Stefan Edberg's influence, about his own drive to carry on playing the game, and how he'd rediscovered the love of being fit and on the top of his form.

I came out worried. Having tipped Novak Djokovic at the start of the tournament I'd backed him with a fair few bob of my own money. Federer was so impressive I wondered if I should Cash Out. Do you? Don't you? I didn't, but I did have another little bet on the final going five sets, so Sunday was a good day all round.

Afterwards Federer was still as laid back (this time in the big interview room). "We can both walk away happy - him more than me, obviously - but it clearly makes me believe this was just a stepping stone to many more great things."

I couldn't help agreeing. At Wimbledon, Federer recovered the beauty and nimbleness of movement that made him the greatest tennis player of all time. His touch and range of shots were astonishing, and the power and placement of his serving simply superb.

At 11.010/1 to be the US Open winner he is incredible value.

You can't see either Rafael Nadal 5.39/2 or Andy Murray 7.26/1 raising their level high enough by then, and Djokovic may be 2.77/4 favourite but he has got the immediate distraction of a wedding and becoming a dad in a few months. The young ones like Grigor Dimitrov 23.022/1 and Milos Raonic 38.037/1 have been shown up as still having a quality gap to bridge.

Federer, meanwhile, is on a roll and will be inspired to get better still for Flushing Meadows. At the very least, by the sound of things, he's got far more chance of success than Fulham.

Recommended Bet:
Back Roger Federer to win the US Open at 11.010/1