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Kyrgios was a 1000-1 shot to win Wimbledon

2nd July, 2014
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Veteran bookmaker Gerard Daffy says Nick Kyrgios winning Wimbledon would rank as the biggest boilover in Australian sports betting history.

But he says few punters are backing against the 19-year-old sensation emulating Boris Becker and hoisting the trophy as a teenager.

Kyrgios opened the tournament as a 1000-1 no-chance with Betfair and Daffy said no one – or no team – in any sport had saluted at such big odds since sports betting was legalised in Australia in 1993.

“You don’t see it,” Daffy said after Kyrgios rocked the tennis world with his earth-moving fourth-round defeat of world No.1 Rafael Nadal at the All England Club on Wednesday morning.

“Even Steven Bradbury wasn’t 1000-1 (when he won a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics). And the rest of the field had to fall over for Bradbury to win.

“But Kyrgios’ opponents aren’t falling over. He has to beat them.”

Daffy said the longest-priced winner he could recall in any sport came at Wimbledon in 2001 when wildcard Goran Ivanisevic beat Australian Pat Rafter in the final after starting the event as a 150-1 outsider.

TattsBet now lists Kyrgios as the $14 fourth favourite to win this year, with only top seed Novak Djokovic, titleholder Andy Murray and seven-times champion Roger Federer shorter priced.

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“And practically every bet we’ve taken today is on him to win it,” Daffy said.

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