Top tennis tipster Rory Jiwani marks your card with his outright Australian Open bets.
The Australian Open is the hardest of the Slams to assess from a punting point of view. It comes so early in the season and, without wishing to make excuses before we've even started, the form leading into it often counts for little.
Until a week ago I was set to row in with Andy Murray winning everything this year. The way he finished last season was incredible and it looked like Novak Djokovic's aura of invincibility had well and truly slipped. But Djokovic's win in Doha and his relaxed manner suggests he might be back to his old self. He also has six Australian Open titles in the bag while Murray has lost five finals.
Both are too short to be great betting propositions, and Djokovic faces a tricky opener against Fernando Verdasco. While it's hard to see anything bar a Murray-Djokovic final, it's not something I want to bet on.
The second quarter looks wide open. Of the favourites, backing Stan Wawrinka always demands something approaching a leap of faith, I'm not prepared to forgive Marin Cilic his early US Open exit and Nick Kyrgios needs cortisone injections to turn up. I like Jack Sock's odds after he reached the last 16 at Flushing Meadows and he's shown decent form already this year. I'll be placing a few pennies on him outright too because you never know...
Milos Raonic should be favourite in front of Rafa Nadal to win the third quarter so I'll be backing him to take that. The Canadian is often found wanting against the big two but if anything happens to Murray or Djokovic, he is the man most likely to capitalise with Roger Federer looking short of his best. Last year's Wimbledon runner-up's outright odds are bigger than I expected and he's well worth an each-way play.
