North London man bets GBP 50,000 on Roger Federer's Wimbledon 2017 victory

Courtesy: Reuters

New Delhi: Roger Federer must have given a lot of sleepless nights to his rivals but this time his most ardent fan can't sleep because of a £50,000 bet this North London resident has put on FedEx's win over Marin Cilic on Sunday.

According to Telegraph, George, 36, will be holding his breath this afternoon as the Swiss number five attempts to beat Cillic and become the oldest Wimbledon champion since the beginning of the Open Era in 1968.

To add to George's nerves – he hasn’t told his girlfriend!

"She’s not terribly into tennis so I’m not sure she’ll be best pleased,” said the 36-year-old quoted by Daily Telegraph. “I don’t do it often (bet) but when I do it, I make sure to do it properly. My bet on Federer came about on a boys’ night out, I’m ashamed to admit, but having watched him this season, I felt fairly confident that he could go all the way," he added.

As per George's research, Federer has four joint-most titles this year (four) and should he win Wimbledon, he will move to World No 3 in the rankings. He has won Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami and Halle this year. Add to George’s confidence, Federer hasn’t dropped a set since losing in Stuttgart – which is 26 straight sets – spanning across Halle and Wimbledon.

"Having won the three biggest tournaments played this season and with the decision to focus on grass and hard court tournaments as opposed to those on clay, it appeared he was gearing up to win his eight Wimbledon trophy. He’s also come across so much more confident this year, than he has in a very long time. Federer wants to win."

"Although my bet makes me nervous, and has left me sleepless for weeks, out of any bets I’ve placed recently, this is the one I feel most confident in… maybe I’ve jinxed it now!,” he said.
George has followed Federer’s journey across the globe while seen him play at 20 tournaments and he will be in attendance at Centre Court. If George wins, he will take home a handsome £162,000 while admitting to call time on his betting career convinced he could not be so lucky twice.

"My girlfriend thinks I’m mad spending so much time and money watching tennis. Although I’m sure she’ll be rather delighted with the bet, should I win, as who could be angry when winning such an amount of money?"

When asked about winning the bet he said, "I’ll probably have to propose to my girlfriend as otherwise she may leave me when she finds out how much money I placed on this bet!".

Looks like George's love for Federer is going to pay off big time as the 18-time Grand Slam champion won the first two sets.