Who are the favourites for the Australian Open?

Odds and preview ahead of first 2019 grand-slam

It’s a new year and this can spell new beginnings. One man that’ll hope this is the case at the Australian Open is Andy Murray.

The two-time Wimbledon champion suffered an injury-ravaged 2018 which saw him drop out of the top 800.

Whilst Murray is hoping for a renaissance, there’s a host of big names eagerly awaiting the first round draw on Friday.

We take a look at the favourites for the title and who could cause an upset at Melbourne Park…

First up it’s over to the men’s side of the draw.

The Wizards of Oz

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are both going in search of their seventh Aussie Open title respectively.

Federer is the defending champion and 5/1 second favourite to retain his title. However, Djokovic is way out in front in the world rankings and starts as the resounding 6/5 fave.

The pair sit either side of second-seed Rafael Nadal in the rankings. The Spaniard has been nursing injuries that ruled him out of recent ATP events going into the first major of the year.

Nadal is 15/2 to win the tournament he last got his hands on in 2009.

However, R-Feds has been talking up a host of other names this week. So we take a look at which outsiders can come up clutch.

Party Poopers

Alexander Zverev can finally prove he is more than a young pretender in Melbourne. The 21-year-old served up a surprise by winning the ATP World Tour Finals in November 2018.

But at 8/1 he looks like the best of the rest having beaten Federer and Djokovic in London.

Marin Cilic and hotshot Karen Khachanov at 20s and 25/1 respectively could be worth a look.

Murray may just be taking one game at a time right now, but the former Olympic champion is 28/1 to net a huge victory.

In the women’s draw it could be a real scrap for supremacy.

Top of the pile

Will Serena Williams regain her stranglehold on the women’s game this year? The 37-year-old is 9/2 to win her eighth major title in Australia.

Williams hasn’t been the favourite for a major since this tournament last year. But she was runner-up at both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018 and is still a force to be reckoned with.

Angelique Kerber is a real contender too. We’ve got her at 8/1. The 2016 Australian Open champ beat Williams in the final at Wimbledon last year.

Osaka to conquer Australia?

Naomi Osaka was a name not many had heard of before September last year. She was only 20-years-old when she beat childhood hero Serena Williams at Flushing Meadows and stardom awaited.

Before her triumph, the furthest she’d gone in a major was round four in Melbourne and had only 2 WTA wins to her name.

She’s now ranked fourth in the world and 9/1 to win a second major in her burgeoning career.

World number-one to cause an upset?

If you look a little further down then you come across the current world number one Simona Halep.

She’s 12/1 to win down under and follow up her maiden grand-slam victory at Roland Garros in 2018.

It’s odd that the current best-player in the women’s game is such a long-shot.  But after five-straight losses in the lead up to the tournament she will need to get into her stride quickly.

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All Odds and Markets correct as of date of publication