Thanks Jessica for guest posting today.
Anyone tuning in on TV has to be loving the Australian Open right now. There have already been a few big upsets on the ladies’ side of the draw with Serena Williams crashing out unexpectedly to
Ana Ivanovic and now Maria Sharapova losing to Dominka Cibulkova.
The men’s side of the draw is exactly the flipside, though, with the tournament generally panning out exactly as anticipated – which makes it even more intriguing if you’re a tennis fan.
Already through to the quarter-finals are the big four. First up is number two seed, title-holder and firm favourite Novak Djokovic. Then there’s the come-back kid and top seed Rafael Nadal – who is the bookmaker’s second favorite for the tournament.
Then there’s Wimbledon winner and runner-up three times in Melbourne Andy Murray who will face the great veteran Roger Federer in his quarter-final. This one promises to be the match of the tournament so far. Federer has won more Grand Slam events than any other male player in history with 17 wins to his name. But he’s not spring chicken in the tennis business at 32.
Nevertheless, Roger has reportedly been putting in a lot of fitness work in recent months and clearly
believes he’s capable of getting back to something like his best having dispatched Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets.
Both Murray and Federer are 12-1 shots with the world’s biggest betting exchange, Betfair.
A bet on tennis can be certainly be a lot of fun if you aren’t partisan and with Betfair, you can also have a lot of fun laying bets back the other way and locking in a profit if your man (or woman…) is ahead in a match. It heightens the enjoyment in matches which may otherwise be relatively uninteresting, but most of the men’s games from here on out in the Aussie Open certainly won’t need any additional interest.
All in all, the next week will be an amazing one for tennis fans everywhere – even if we have to get up in the early hours to watch it.
