Staff writer advises tennis punters to avoid the Swiss Maestro this summer at the All England Club and suggests other bets instead.

Roger Federer may have the number 1 seed at the All England Club later this month although the top ranking on tour could still be overtaken by Rafael Nadal.  But even if Federer were number 2, his backers are still advised to start backing other players on tour instead as the Swiss Maestro is priced too short to win Wimbledon at this point.

Federer is priced at +150 (3/2) with Boylesports in the outright winner's market for the grass court Slam and coming on the heels of his quarterfinals loss to Robin Soderling at Roland Garros, you have to wonder if the All England Club will see a changing of the guard this year.

Federer has won 6 of the last 7 titles at Wimbledon but his play has nose-dived since winning the 2010 Australian Open.  Federer has lost to all of the following players on tour since February: Marcos Baghdatis, Tomas Berdych, Ernests Gulbis, Albert Montanes, Rafael Nadal, and Robin Soderling.

Federer has not taken a title down since Melbourne and before that he did not take a title down since Cincinnati.  With the exception of Nadal, all of the players listed above had never beaten Federer on tour prior to 2010 and that is a sharp indicator that the Swiss Maestro is starting to fade.

A fact that should not be lost on Federer backers is that he is almost 29 and he should be expected to falter because that is how things work.  In the top 10 of the ATP there is only one player that is older than Fed and that is the fitness guru Nikolay Davydenko.  Federer's declining results should not simply be attributed to the fact that he has a family now - aging is also playing a role.

If Federer were to challenge the next 12 Grand Slams then he could fully be expected to win 1 or 2 of them.  But coming off of 6 consecutive losing tournaments backing Federer to win Wimbledon at +150 (3/2) has to be considered a sucker bet.

If Nadal is close to 100% then he should fully be expected to win the grass court Slam and his odds of +350 (7/2) with Victor Chandler have way more value than Federer's skimpy odds. 

Andy Roddick is also priced to be picked at +1200 (12/1; Boylesports) to win Wimbledon as he had fantastic form during the American hard court swing.  His lackluster play on clay has never indicated how he would do on grass so his poor performance at the French Open is nothing to be alarmed about.

Robin Soderling is priced at +1600 (16/1) with bet365 to win Wimbledon and you could put him at true odds shorter than that as the Swede is the man of the moment, besides Nadal.

Lastly, Tomas Berdych is at +5000 (50/1) with Blue Square as he promises to threaten the top 10 on tour for the first time.

All 4 of those players are providing better value than Federer to win in Wimbledon and those backing the Swiss Maestro to win at the All England Club in 2010 might be guilty of betting on a ghost.  Federer 2010 is not Federer 2003 to 2009 so if you are backing the world number 1 try to hold out for longer odds than what is currently being offered.

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