DORSET, UK -- The Australian Tennis Open gets underway next week and it could herald the emergence of Britain's, Andy Murray as a future world number one. He begins the tournament as narrow favourite with most UK Online bookmakers, closely followed by three time Australian Open Champion and world number two, Roger Federer. In the last six meetings between Murray and Federer, Murray has won five times, his only defeat coming, possibly significantly in the final of the US Open in September, when Federer won easily in three straight sets.
Since then however, it has been one way traffic for Murray and is now only a 9/4 chance with Bet365 as he has swept all in front of him so far this season, winning two tournaments so emphatically that the bookies have made him the man to beat in Melbourne.
World number one, Rafael Nadal has not won a tournament since the Olympics and has shown over the last months that his game is still not quite there for hard court tennis and as such is as big as 7/2 in the Australian Open Tennis Betting. He has improved, of that there is no doubt, but he tends to find one player too good for him. His defeats over recent time have come at the hands of Murray (twice), Gilles Simon and Nikolay Davydenko and it is these defeats that demonstrate the point that Nadal may not be quite good enough to win the Australian Open.
Current champion, Novak Djokovic, looked very impressive when winning this a year ago. He defeated, Federer in the semi final and went on to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final in four sets. Plaudits were beginning to believe that Djokovic could challenge Nadal for his then number two spot, but during the clay and grass season in the Spring and Summer last year, Nadal proved to be the better player. Djokovic in fact only won two more tournaments during that period, but returned to winning ways when he impressively won the Masters Cup in Shanghai, finishing the year as he started it.
So the scene is set for what could be one of the great tennis showdowns for a long time. The four top ranked players in the world will be the top four seeds here and it is difficult not to see one of them winning. However, there are several other players who are serious contenders in their own right, particularly the French pair of Tsonga and Simon. These two players proved conclusively in 2008 that on their day they can beat any of the top four and they should not be ruled out. There may even be a surprise package or two from players such as Ernest Bulbis from Latvia and Sam Querry from the USA. These two young men have made the right sort of impression in big tournaments and could pose a threat to high seeds in the early rounds. Look out too for the young Argentine star, Juan Martin Del Potro, who won four ATP titles on the trot last season and he too has the capability of causing a big surprise here.
In the Women's Australian Open Tennis tournament, it looks like Serena Williams has the tournament at her mercy, particularly following the withdrawal of reigning champion, Maria Sharapova. With the downturn in fortunes of Ana Ivanovic and Williams's clear ascendancy over world number one, Jelena Jankovic it is difficult to see beyond her as the winner. That said, her sister, Venus could be the one to challenge her. They met in two Grand Slams last season, with Venus winning the Wimbledon final and Serena defeating her sister in the quarter finals at the US Open before going on to win the final against Jankovic.
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