A tradition that began all the way back in 1905 will continue this January with the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events as the best in the world make the trip to Melbourne, Australia for the Australian Open. Novak Djokovic has absolutely dominated the event on the men’s side and is the defending champion at Melbourne so it really shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody that he is listed as the betting favorite to win this year’s event. Here is a look at the four best bets to win the 2016 Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic
Djokovic is the No. 1 ranked tennis player in the world and he has won four of the last six Grand Slam tournaments overall including last year’s Australian Open so he is the obvious betting favorite for this year’s event. Djokovic is 28-years-old and he has played at an elite level over the past couple of seasons so there really is no reason to doubt him as the best option on the board once again this year.
Andy Murray
Murray is the No. 2 ranked tennis player in the world and has met Djokovic in the finals of the Australian Open on three different occasions. However, Djokovic won each of those three meetings and when you factor in his loss to Roger Federer in the finals of the 2010 Australian Open he is now 0-4 all-time in that position. Bjorn Borg is the only other tennis player to lose all four of his finals appearances at a particular grand slam event but the bad news for Murray is that there isn’t any real reason to think this year will be any different. Murray has the potential to get back to the finals but it’s hard to envision him winning it all if he is forced to play another rematch with Djokovic.
Roger Federer
Federer’s last Grand Slam win was back in 2012 when he prevailed at Wimbledon but he hasn’t been able to recapture that past magic and he will turn 35-years-old in August. Federer still has an elite touch and is still one of the best in the world so there is reason to believe he will make another deep run but the problem is that at this point it would be impossible to trust him matched up against Djokovic. Anything can happen at a Grand Slam event and Federer is more than capable if the top dog somehow stumbles along the way so that makes him a strong sleeper pick but if he does have to face Djokovic along the way it is more likely than not that he will falter.
Rafael Nadal
Nadal isn’t even the fourth-ranked tennis player in the world anymore as that title now belongs to Stan Wawrinka at least for the time being but if there was a time to take a shot on Nadal to shock the world at a Grand Slam event other than the French Open then this would be it. Nadal has been crippled by injuries and he isn’t getting any younger but he has had some time off to rest and prepare for a new season so if you want to take a shot on him to shock the tennis world then his +1200 odds to win the event is worth putting a small amount of money on along with the obvious best bet in Djokovic.
2016 Australian Open Odds
N Djokovic 4/5
A Murray 11/2
R Federer 8/1
R Nadal 12/1
S Wawrinka 14/1
K Nishikori 22/1
M Raonic 50/1
M Cilic 50/1
N Kyrgios 50/1
T Berdych 50/1
J-W Tsonga 50/1
G Dimitrov 50/1
G Monfils 100/1
B Tomic 100/1
D Ferrer 100/1
K Anderson 125/1
J Isner 150/1
G Simon 150/1
E Gulbis 150/1
P Kohlschreiber 200/1
D Thiem 200/1
B Coric 200/1
F Lopez 200/1
D Goffin 200/1
J Sock 250/1
A Dolgopolov 250/1
I Karlovic 250/1
J Janowicz 250/1
B Paire 250/1
R Bautista-Agut 300/1
J Chardy 300/1
V Pospisil 300/1
V Troicki 300/1
T Robredo 300/1
F Fognini 400/1
A Seppi 400/1
D Dzumhur 500/1
B Becker 500/1
N Mahut 500/1
T Haas 500/1
P Cuevas 500/1
D Gimeno-Traver 500/1
J Benneteau 500/1
P Lorenzi 500/1
S Johnson 500/1
T Daniel 500/1
T De Bakker 500/1
J Vesely 500/1
N Almagro 500/1
G Pella 500/1
A Ramos 500/1
D Young 500/1
S Giraldo 500/1
L Mayer 500/1
A Mannarino 500/1
R Ram 500/1
M Granollers 500/1
D Schwartzman 500/1
D Kudla 500/1
I Marchenko 500/1
A Haider-Maurer 500/1
E Donskoy 500/1
D Lajovic 500/1
G Muller 500/1
N Rubin 500/1
F Verdasco 500/1
H Chung 500/1
L Pouille 500/1
B Baker 500/1
P-H Mathieu 500/1
T Gabashvili 500/1
S Querrey 500/1
M Ebden 500/1
J Thompson 500/1
L Saville 500/1
J Millman 500/1
J Duckworth 500/1
S Groth 500/1
J-P Smith 500/1
I Cervantes 500/1
D Munoz-De La Nava 500/1
T Bellucci 500/1
J Sousa 500/1
V Estrella 500/1
M Kukushkin 500/1
A Bedene 500/1
S Bolelli 500/1
M Klizan 500/1
J Tipsarevic 500/1
R Haase 500/1
F Delbonis 500/1
P Andujar 500/1
M Baghdatis 500/1
Y Nishioka 500/1
L Hewitt 500/1
Y Bhambri 500/1
D Istomin 500/1
L Rosol 500/1
A Zverev 500/1
P Carreno-Busta 500/1
D Tursunov 500/1
R Berankis 500/1
S Stakhovsky 500/1
Y-H Lu 500/1
I Dodig 500/1
M Cecchinato 500/1
G Garcia-Lopez 500/1
An Kuznetsov 500/1
S Darcis 500/1
