Preview

One of the most anticipated Grand Slams in Mens tennis is upon us this weekend with the start of the Australian Tennis Open and it is the most open title since the beginning of the decade. Roger Federer has long been a strong favourite to win these tournaments at the bookmakers but this year, while he is still the favourite, he is priced at 4.0.

Many players come into this tournament with strong claims that they can leave with a Grand Slam under their belt. We have the players who have done it before in this tournament like Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, while new challengers to this thrown exist from Andy Murray and current US Open holder Juan Martin Del Potro.

To make matters even more interesting for the viewing public, we have those old success stories in this tournament coming back in Fernando Verdasco and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, while the form player coming into this tournament has surely got to be Nikolay Davydenko. The Russian recently won the biggest prize of his career at the year end Championships in London and has started this season with the same appetite and hunger as shown in wins over Federer and Nadal.

The mens game is truly going through a purple patch at the minute as I am yet to mention former Grand Slam winner Andy Roddick and also the success story of last season in Robin Soderling who did the impossible and beat Nadal in the French Open.

First Quarter of the Draw

The first quarter of the draw always is topped off with the World Number 1 - Roger Federer was seeded number 2 here last season but is back at the position he feels he should hold. He will begin his campaign this season with what looks like a straightforward match with Igor Andreev.

Federer should feel confident in making it through to the Quarter Final at least in this tournament and his biggest obstacle in getting to that stage is likely to be the winner of the potential 3rd round match between Lleyton Hewitt and Gilles Simon. While Federer should feel confident in beating Hewitt, Simon is a different and difficult prospect for him- in fact Simon holds a 2-0 head to head record over Federer.

However, it would be a surprise to see anybody but Federer making it through to the Quarters as Simon has dropped his game slightly since his wins over Federer.

The bottom half of this quarter provides much more intrigue in my opinion. Fernando Verdasco and Nikolay Davydenko both have places in this section and the potentially dangerous floater, Ernests Gulbis, is also around. Gulbis gave Federer all kinds of difficulty in Doha a couple of weeks ago and should set himself up for a 3rd round meeting with Davydenko.

Davydenko holds the edge in matches with Gulbis and should set up the mouth-watering meeting with Verdasco in the 4th round for the right to meet Federer.

Verdasco does not have a good record against Davydenko, going 1-6 in their meetings including 2 defeats last season. 1 of those meetings was in a Grand Slam at the French Open but this match could be a classic with both Men in form coming into the tournament.

POTENTIAL QUARTER FINAL - FEDERER v DAVYDENKO

Second Quarter

Novak Djokovic ended last season in spectacular form before fatigue did for his chances in London in the final tournament of the year. He has had a very good time at the Australian Open in previous years and must feel he has a chance of doing well here again, especially with the draw being kind to him.

He should not have any problems reaching the 4th round of the competition, a bonus seeing as fitness has let him down in tournaments previously including a retirement here last season when the heat did for him in the Quarter Final.

In the 4th round, I think he is likely to come up against Tommy Robredo of Spain, but with 5 straight wins over him on all surfaces, Djokovic will feel confident of a Quarter Final berth.

The bottom half of this section is again loaded with the talent with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Robin Soderling and Tommy Haas situated there. Haas has not played well in the Kooyang Classic in the warm up to this event and he could have a tough 2nd round match with Janko Tipsarevic a possibility. The winner of that is going to meet Tsonga in the 3rd round.

Robin Soderling should be waiting for Tsonga in the 4th round as he has a fairly straightforward 3 rounds to negotiate. Soderling and Tsonga have met 3 times previously and it currently stands at 2-1 to the Swede. They recently met at the Kooyang Classic where Tsonga won comfortably in 2 sets.

The Swede was in exceptional form last season, especially after the win over Nadal at the French Open and he will feel confident coming into this season. He performed well in the Capitala Tennis Championships where he lost a close match to Nadal in the final after beating Federer in the Semi Final and he also reached the Semi in London at the end of the season.

POTENTIAL QUARTER FINAL - DJOKOVIC v SODERLING

Third Quarter

The top seed in this section of the draw is now Juan Martin Del Potro after he displaced Andy Murray as the World Number 4 at the beginning of this week. He is the current US Open Champion but he did not have a great end to the season even accounting for the fact that he finished Runner Up in London in the final tournament.

There is a slight concern that he is suffering with a wrist injury and there is the potential of the a tough 2nd round match with either James Blake or former Australian Open Runner Up Arnaud Clement. Further complications are provided for him with the potential of a 4th round meeting with the big hitting Marin Cilic.

The 2 players have met on 2 previous occasions with Del Potro winning both in 4 sets last season at the Grand Slams in Australia and the United States. If the wrist is not giving Del Potro much trouble, I would expect him to get through to the Quarter Final here.

This Quarter is perhaps the most exciting of all with the top half of it featuring the likes of Andy Roddick, Tomas Berdych and Fernando Gonzalez. Roddick should feel comfortable with the draw, with the main danger before the 4th round being Sam Querrey, but the big serving American has not started the season very well at all.

The big matches in this section is likely to begin in the 3rd round where Berdych is likely to meet Gonzalez in what should be a spectacular match full of big hitting. The head to head between the 2 players stands at 4-3 to Gonzalez who has won their only meeting in a Grand Slam last year in America.

Andy Roddick will need to play better than he did in Brisbane 2 weeks ago if he wants an extended tournament here. He has a strong head to head record against both Gonzalez and Berdych and will be confident of making the Quarter Final challenge of Del Potro.

POTENTIAL QUARTER FINAL - RODDICK v DEL POTRO

Fourth Quarter

Rafael Nadal leads the way in the final Quarter of the draw and should feel happy enough for the first 4 rounds of the competition. He has a possibly tough match with John Isner in round 3, the big serving American showing some pedigree by beating Andy Roddick last season in the US Open.

He has the possibility of meeting another big server in Ivo Karlovic in round 4, but it is much more likely that it will either be Radek Stepanek or Mardy Fish that provides his opposition. Stepanek holds a 3-0 lead over Fish in their head to head and all 3 victories have come on the American hardcourts so he should feel like he has a strong chance to meet Nadal in round 4.

Nadal has a strong record over Stepanek and I fully expect him to reach the Quarter Final.

Andy Murray has not had the best of draws and his falling out of the top 4 in the World as he is in arguably the tougher half of the draw this season. He should be reaching round 4 without too many issues but that is where his tournament will truly begin.

At that stage it is possible that he will meet either David Ferrer of Spain or the talented Gael Monfils. Monfils is the bigger threat but he was complaining of having a hard time serving in Brisbane 2 weeks ago and was strapped up heavily during his convincing loss to Stepanek. The heat of Melbourne and the best of 5 schedule may make it impossible for Monfils to be in tip top shape if he reaches a meeting with Murray.

Due to this factors, I do expect to see and am looking forward to a Murray-Nadal Quarter Final.

POTENTIAL QUARTER FINAL - MURRAY v NADAL

Quarter Finals and Beyond

Many people are tipping Nikolay Davydenko as a real threat to Roger Federer after he overcame a mental hurdle and beat the Swiss World Number 1 2 times in the last 2 months. However, it is a much more different and difficult prospect in beating the man over best of 5 sets but this Quarter Final could be a classic.

This may be the problem for Davydenko in this match. The pair have met 4 times in Grand Slam events but Davydenko has only won 1 set. I think the match will be a very entertaining one but I also feel that Federer will move on.

Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling should be another close match. Soderling got over a mini-hump by beating Djokovic in London last season, his first win over the Serb in 6 matches. However, I think Djokovic has more experience than Soderling at this event and has had more success and should progress to a Semi Final with Federer.

The next prediction is Del Potro to get through Andy Roddick. Del Potro has beaten Roddick 3 times previously, all on American hardcourts, a surface that Roddick considers his favourite. Del Potro has all the tools to beat Roddick and as strong as Andy is mentally, Juan Martin has proven how strong he is too.

The match of the Quarter Finals should be the Nadal v Murray match and this is going to be a close one to call. However, it should be noted that Nadal has only won 1 match against a top 10 player since recovering from his injury and still does not quite look like his old self in terms of consistency. Murray has beaten Nadal in a Grand Slam before and should have the confidence to take on the Spaniard.

This could be a match that goes all the way to 5 sets, as it did when they met here in 2007, but this time I will back Andy Murray to go through.

Federer against Djokovic should be a compelling match. Both players have beaten the other in big matches, Federer winning the US Open Final in 2007 before following that up with successive wins in the Semi Final at the same competition in the 2 years following. Djokovic had his big success with a Semi Final win here in 2008.

This is going to be another close match, but I will favour Djokovic to win.

Del Potro and Murray have had a storied past but Murray definitely holds the mental edge with his 5-1 record. Del Potro may have taken the edge with his win at the US Open to take his first Grand Slam, but Murray knows he has the beating of the big man and wont falter himself mentally. The heat may be a factor here and I would like to see how Del Potro lasts in a 5 setter. Therefore I am going for an Andy Murray win.

PREDICTED AUSTRALIAN OPEN MENS SINGLES FINAL :
NOVAK DJOKOVIC v ANDY MURRAY

This should be a fabulous 2 weeks of tennis and I am looking forward to it.

The Pick :

Djokovic v Murray

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

The bets I will be having on this tournament will be outright winner bets on both Djokovic and Murray.

Novak has had a wonderful draw and I fully expect him to take advantage of it while Murray can also feel slightly confident.
- Novak Djokovic @ 8.35 at Pinnacle Sports
- Andy Murray @ 7.50 at Victor Chandler