You wait an eternity for a 100/1 winner… and then three of them come along like buses.
Add into the mix a 150/1 placer for each way punters, and it would be fair to say that the past ten days or so have been eye-catching for backers of longshots and underdogs.
The biggest shock of them all came at the French Open tennis, where Jannik Sinner was the odds-on favourite to lift the trophy… let alone defeat the unseeded Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.
But the Italian was about to become the victim of a remarkable 100/1 underdog story…
Down and Out In Paris
Sinner had won each of his last 30 matches on all surfaces.
Cerundolo, meanwhile, is ranked 56 in the world and has made less than £1 million in career prize money – compared to Sinner’s £32 million.
The match was playing out as expected with the Italian winning the first set 6-3 before dominating the second as well, taking that 6-2.
Backers of 3-0 to Sinner were starting to feel very bullish about their chances; especially so when their man went 5-1 up in the third set. A mere formality, you might think.
But then the wheels slowly started to fall off…
The world number one began making unforced errors aplenty; seemingly drained of energy under the red-hot Paris sun. Cerundolo, without doing a great deal, was able to edge back into the contest and took the third set 7-5.
Sinner’s fans were hoping that their hero simply needed a shake-up, but none was forthcoming – Cerundolo won the next two sets 6-1 against the visibly ailing favourite to land the most incredible comeback victory.
When serving for the match, Sinner was priced at 1/500 – his opponent looking terrible value at 100/1.
It’s hard to imagine anyone backing the Argentine at that price, given his desperate plight, but there’s no doubt somebody that did.
Sinner later confirmed that his dramatic drop-off was down to illness, revealing: “I started feeling dizzy. Very low on energy. I tried to serve it out, but I didn’t have a lot of energy.”
Those plucky few that had backed Cerundolo will no doubt be short on sympathy…
Jeffrey’s Joy
From a starting price of 200/1, punters weren’t exactly bashing down the door to back Jeffrey de Graaf to win the PDC darts tour’s Players Championship 19 event on Tuesday.
The Swede did win on the Pro Tour last year, so has some previous pedigree, but his form of late has been patchy at best.
But these Players Championship events, which are played to a short format and with the games coming thick and fast, lend themselves to those players that are able to build up a head of steam and throw to consistently high levels.
De Graaf certainly didn’t have things easy, defeating former World Championship participant Adam Lipscombe in the first round and defying a 103 average from Karel Sedlacek in the second.
World Cup champion and Premier League competitor Josh Rock was De Graaf’s third round opponent, with the Swede showing class and bottle in abundance to wrap up a 6-4 victory.
Bradley Brooks and Luke Woodhouse were disposed of next to set up a semi-final with Pro Tour powerhouse Wessel Nijman, who has won five Players Championship events in 2026 thus far.
But even he was powerless to stop De Graaf, who managed to round out a 6-4 triumph despite averaging six points less.
Waiting in the final was Jonny Clayton, fresh from his run to the Premier League semi-finals. But De Graaf saved his best for last – always the measure of an outstanding player, averaging 101.11 to defeat the Welshman and clinch a second Pro Tour title.
At a price of 200/1, no less!
Sterne Words
No words, stern or otherwise, could sum up the remarkable victory of 300/1 chance Richard Sterne at golf’s Soudal Open.
The South African came from nowhere to win the DP World Tour event in Belgium, scything through the field with a round of 66 on Sunday.
Sterne, now 44, hadn’t won a senior level event in some 13 years, but took to the course at Rinkven Golf Club with aplomb.
Even so, he trailed the 54-hole leader Zander Lombard by five shots heading into the final round. And it no doubt wouldn’t have given Sterne any pleasure watching his countrymen throw away his comfortable lead on Sunday, posting a round of 74 to tumble down the leaderboard.
None of those at the head of the market could match Sterne’s 66, which confirmed one of the most unexpected victories on the DP World Tour in some time – well, since Yurav Premlall won as a 500/1 chance in Barcelona just a couple of weeks before!