Tennis expert Ross Whent casts his eye over this year's Australian Open, picking out betting tips for the men's and women's competitions.
Men's Australian Open Prediction
Men's Australian Open 2021 Prediction
It is very difficult to go against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, having won an incredible seven of the last 10 in Melbourne and eight in total.
He has been drawn in the same half of the draw as Dominic Thiem in this year’s edition, who for me, comprise the two best players in the world coming out of a COVID-hit 2020.
That puts me off backing Thiem to go one better than last year in Australia and follow up his first Slam win in New York at the end of 2020. It is very possible that these two will repeat the five set of thriller of last year’s final at the semi-final stage.
In terms of an outright pick, that leads me to the other half of the draw and the form player on the ATP tour, in Danniil Medvedev at 9/2. The Russian is currently on a 12-match winning streak, having won titles in Paris and London before his two warm up matches earlier this week in Melbourne.
The change in surface last year and heavier balls were both reported by players as making the court play slower, which should suit Medvedev, who has had more success on the slower hard courts of Flushing Meadows than Melbourne Park.
He has a tricky first round match against Vasek Pospisil but after that he looks to have a good draw until the quarter-final stage, where he’s likely to meet fellow in-form Russian, Andrey Rublev.
With doubts over Nadal’s fitness, his quarter could easily open-up with Tsitsipas, Hurkacz, Anderson, Berretini and Khachanov stacked into that side of the draw.
Rising Greek star Tsitsipas would be my other outright bet to win the fourth quarter.
Tsitsipas to win the fourth quarter will be added to this article once market is live.
Women's Australian Open Prediction
Women's Australian Open 2021 Prediction
In the women’s draw, there is plenty of interest with Sofia Kenin defending her title, Ash Barty returning after almost a year away from the tour, Naomi Osaka fresh off her win in New York and Serena Williams continuing her quest for a 24th grand slam title.
One player that generally flies more under the radar who I think will have a good year in 2021 is Simona Halep. She has previous at this tournament, making the semis last year and was a losing finalist in 2018 to Carloline Wozniacki. She comes in to the tournament at 14/1 best price and I think that’s a great e/w bet.
She arguably has the most favourable draw of the top four seeds, with the dangerous Sabalenka and Williams providing the obvious threat. While Williams has a 9-2 h2h record against Halep, the Romanian delivered a psychological blow by beating the 39-year-old in the 2020 Wimbledon final. If both players get that far, Halep will look to avenge her last-16 loss to the same opponent at the 2019 Aussie Open.
Osaka is in the same half of the draw as Halep and faces players with a lot of pedigree in here quarter, including former World number ones Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber as well as former US Open champion, Bianca Andreescu. So I’m happy to oppose the Japanese player if she does make it out of that tricky draw.
