The Magic of Sports Overcoming Time and Limits

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(Newswire.net — September 20, 2018) — From Henry VIII to Federer the Great, this quest for hitting the perfect stroke has remained as the driving force of today’s greatest players, just like in the medieval times where the ego of kings was a stake. 

Overcoming the test of time

Some historians date it to Ancient Egypt, others say it was played at villages in Tuscany, there are also stories about European monks who played it in courtyards of Italy and France until tennis was embraced by French and ultimately, the British aristocracy.

Tennis is thought to be derived from “tenez”, from the French verb “tenir”, which means to hold. Yet, “love” is a bit more contradictory. According to Lesley Ronaldson, a Real Tennis professional, the notion of ‘love’ has its origins from the French word for egg “l’oeuf”, yet other say it was made by the British symbolizing nothing as love is something you did for nothing.

Language abbreviations aside, the actual tournaments, the holy grail of the tennis elite to be more exact also go a long way. Wimbledon was opened in 1877, the U.S. Open four years later, the French Open (1891) and Australian Open in 1905.

New Industry

Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are among the richest sportsmen and women in the world, as the professional era brought with it an explosion of abundance in prize money, sponsorship and commercial revenues.

But, this sport has also brought quite a bit of action to sports betters. This year’s US Open was a delight for viewers, yet not too exciting for sports betters as the odds of the returning superstar were greatly in favour of Djokovic winning the tournament for the 3rd time, making it his 14th Grand Slam title.

The Entrepreneur reported that the legal sports betting industry in the U.S. alone was worth an estimated $270 million in 2017, with another $2.5 to $3 billion in black market betting, according to research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC. The total value of the world’s market is difficult to estimate because of the lack of consistency in how it is regulated in some parts of the world. Sports betting is legal from Australia to Western Europe, but UK is by far the biggest legal market, according to Bloomberg. But worldwide, the most popular betting sports are:

  • Soccer
  • Football (U.S.)
  • Basketball
  • Tennis

Sporting Miracles Ahead? Betting on the Underdog

So although there were not a lot of surprises in the latest tennis tournament, perhaps this year’s Premier League will spice things up. After all, Leicester City proved that sporting miracles are truly possible by becoming Premier League Champions in the 2015/16 season as their team famously defied odds of 5,000/1 to win the Premier League. The betting odds for this year aren’t backing Leicester City to be the respectful winner again, however betting on the underdog may prove to be the money making choice of the season. The World Cup came to the rescue of football fans this summer as it broke up the normal monotony of the extended break but there’s nothing quite like the Premier League and the 2018/19 season is nearly upon us!

Thebookiesoffers.co.uk will provide betting tips for all of the biggest and most important Premier League matches but they are also taking an early look at the outright markets while providing the latest news for all sports fans out there.

Ultimately, all sports share one common thought which is the most powerful force behind any true athlete. “When you show up with your courage, confidence and belief, you are already a winner despite the actual result,” as summarized by Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is about to team up this weekend with no other than Federer as part of Team Europe against Team World for the second ever Laver Cup in Chicago, proving the greatness of sports overcoming even rivalry, as the Swiss Superstar joked, “When you can’t beat them you have to join them. I am very excited.”

In today’s world which desperately needs more of these values that are so deeply embodied in sports, giving a good example to sports fans, who see their athletes and teams as extensions of themselves, seems like quite a decent way to make this world a better place.