The first Grand Slam of the 2021 calendar is upon us, as the Australian Open has gotten underway in Melbourne. On the men’s side, the favorites in singles are Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The women’s draw, once again, is wide open, with such top players as Garbine Muguruza, Serena Williams, Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka all in the bottom half. Whoever comes out of that bottom half will already have gone through the grinder before the final, so it will be interesting to see whether that finalist has enough left in the tank to win the championship.
Take a look at some of our Australian Open betting predictions for the tournament.
Tennis News: 2021 Australian Open Predictions
Thoughts on the Men’s Draw
Novak Djokovic comes in as the two-time defending champion, and he has been a finalist in six of the previous nine Grand Slams. However, Djokovic has a tricky side of the draw, as the seeded players on his section are Taylor Fritz, Milos Raonic and Stan Wawrinka. Before he would make the final, Dominic Thiem or Alexander Zverev could await in the semis, as they are also in Djokovic’s half.
Thiem took on Djokovic in the 2020 Australian Open final, falling in five sets. After that, though, Thiem broke through for his generation, winning the U.S. Open, taking the first Grand Slam for the youth movement. A rematch in the semifinals could be terrific to watch.
On the other half of the bracket, Rafael Nadal awaits. The top challengers in his half are Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev. Rublev is the lowest of the three seeds, but he rolled all the way to the quarterfinals at the 2020 U.S. Open and French Open, and he made it to the fourth round in Melbourne a year ago. However, until someone actually beats Djokovic down under, it is hard to argue for picking against him.
Thoughts on the Women’s Draw
Because of the wide-open nature of women’s tennis right now, we will start to see some terrific matchups as early as the third or fourth rounds. Naomi Osaka could see Angelique Kerber or Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round. The round of 16 could also see Simona Halep, Iga Swiatek, Bianca Andreescu and Petra Kvitova meeting up against one another. In the bottom half of the bracket, Serena Williams would not face a former winner of a Grand Slam untilt he quarterfinals at least, as Aryna Sabalenka is the only other high seed in her section of the bracket.
It is the top half that looks safer, with top seed Ashleigh Barty, 2020 champion Sofia Kenin and several others. There are six different women who have won a Grand Slam over the past two years; the only one who has won more than one is Osaka. Kenin beat Barty on her home soil in the semifinals a year ago, and if she could do that again, that would set her up for a title. Kenin could then meet Williams, which would meet an all-American final.
Williams still remains the top women’s singles player of all time, but she has now gone four years without a major win, as her last Grand Slam triumph came in Melbourne in 2017. Kenin is the fresher of the two players, so my money is on her to repeat.
Australian Open Betting Odds
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