Another One For The Djoker?

The Australian Open starts this Monday in Melbourne. Djokovic goes in as 6/4 favourite to take it down which seems pretty fair. He didn’t finish the year too well but he seems to back to his best after the way he crushed Federer and Ferrer in the exhibition in Abu Dhabi at the start of the year.

Bottom half of the draw: Federer and Nadal have been put together in the same half, and it seems like a while since they’ve been in the same half. Pretty comfortable draws for them until they get to the quarters where Fed will run into Del Potro and Nadal into Berdych providing they all get through. Fed, with back problems of late, seems like he hasn’t practised very much in the off-season, so he might really struggle. Nadal wouldn’t be too mad about the courts here either – The ball doesn’t kick up that high for his opponents and aren’t too fast. Nadal isn’t going in fully fit either. His shoulder seems to be still bothering him a little. It would be nice to see Nadal and Federer in the semis but I think Del Potro, Berdych, or even Baghdatis might steal the show.

Top half of the draw seems tougher in my opinion. It’s filled with a lot of guys in good form and all the quality french players that are playing well. But who’s getting past Djokovic and Murray? Probably nobody. Murray has a fairly tough draw the whole way through starting from round 1. He’s scheduled to play Monfils in the fourth and Tsonga in the quarters if they win their earlier matches. I think Andy will play really well this year again. I think having Lendl in his corner will help him hugely. Also if he gets through to play Dkojer in the semis it’s going to suit him a lot better than having to play Djoker in a final.

Match bets:

• I like Stepanek versus Mahut at 1/3 or better. Stepanek is playing very well. Mahut losing to a guy ranked 275 in the world in Brisbane and losing first round of qualifiers last week. Can’t see him giving Stepanek much of a game.

• I’m backing Haase verus Roddick. I bet on [Robin] Haase last year in the same tournament at 5-1 odds I think it was. He was crushing him and then got injured after being up a set and a break. He actually picks up a lot of injuries. Anyways hes 7/2 this time around and Andy just isn’t the same as he used to be. If Roddick does win he plays Lleyton Hewitt in the second round, which will be a very interesting encounter.

Outrights:

• I don’t do many outrights but I’ve layed Federer and I’ve backed Del Potro for small, I kind of want to back Berdych but I just can’t do it. Hes not the strongest mentally!

Good Luck and enjoy the tennis.