Most tennis tournaments have one or more of the top ranked players engaged so it’s refreshing to come across a tournament where they are all missing. Rather than watching Nadal, Federer, or Djokovic win again, or pull our hair out in frustration as Murray fails once more in a final, we can watch the next group of players fight out a final.

This week’s tournament is the Estoril Open and it features players such as Robin Soderling, Juan Martin del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Giles Simon and Fernando Verdasco. Soderling has been hailed as the next Federer and while he has certainly caused the top ranked players a few problems over the last 12-18 months, he hasn’t really climbed to that next level.

Del Potro and Tsonga have both been mentioned as future world number one’s – a distinct possibility given their playing styles. Injury will be the biggest problem, especially for Tsonga who has spent a lot of last season and the start of this season on the side lines.

In this tournament, tennis betting is tight with del Potro favourite at 5/2 just ahead of Soderling at 3/1. Punters have taken a shine to Verdasco, backing him into 5/1 with some bookmakers. Tsonga has yet to reclaim the form that saw him trouble the top ranked players last year and bookmakers have home safe at 8/1 with Simon.

These tournaments provide a great spectacle for fans since the tennis played tends to be a lot closer than the shut-outs we often see when the top ranked players are involved. These tournaments are also great from a betting perspective since the odds are often a lot friendlier while being more predictable.