Who’s the Favourite to Win the Australian Open?

As one of the world’s first major sporting events when it comes to placement during the calendar year, there’s an awful lot of eyes on the Australian Open. It forms a central part of the tennis calendar, alongside the other major tournaments such as Wimbledon and the US Open. With the Australian Open being the first tournament of the year however, a lot of eyes are on the best in the world to start as they mean to go on. It’s never long before pundits start discussing who the favourite to win the overall tournament is.

Making use of odds can be a good barometer for determining who the favourite of a tournament is, not least in tennis. So we can look to tennis betting sites such as Betfair, who bring together a complete list of all players involved in a specific competition and then provide the likelihood of each of them winning that tournament. As one of the biggest tournaments in the world of tennis, the Australian Open does feature some heavy-hitters such as Novak Djokovic who is the odds-on favourite to win at 11/10. These odds are calculated based on a raft of data including everything from previous performances at that specific event to how many tournaments that particular player has won. With players such as Djokovic being one of the most successful in the modern game, it’s only natural that he is put forward as a frontrunner for the Australian Open.

In addition, the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, two noteworthy veterans of the tennis world, have also been tipped with a good chance of winning down under, carrying odds of 6/1 and 8/1 respectively. Much like Djokovic before them, Federer and Nadal are some of the most decorated players in the game’s history with the pair carrying 40 Grand Slam singles titles between them with 20 apiece. With such a high level of success coming naturally to gifted players, it is only right that both the Swiss and the Spaniard have been given good odds in such a prestigious tournament.

Whilst the veterans of the tennis world are understandably highly thought of, there are some younger players with bags of talent that have been given better odds that even the likes of Roger Federer. Both Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem have been placed at 5/1 to win. With both players having made quite the impression on the top level over the last few years, it makes sense that they’ve been labelled with such high chances. A little further down the list comes Milos Raonic who at 33/1 could be considered an outsider by comparison to the others present on this list. However, Raonic is the most decorated Canadian player in tennis history, having won eight career titles, including Wimbledon in 2016. In the last few years, he has made a return to the Top 20 in the world and could be considered there or thereabouts when the Australian Open comes around.

The above list truly demonstrates that the modern game has a large pool of brilliant players. On a good day, any one of them has the chance to win the Australian Open. If we’re going on odds alone, then Novak Djokovic is the clear frontrunner, but others such as the prodigious Daniil Medvedev and other veterans such as Rafael Nadal definitely can’t be discounted. Whilst the winner is not set in stone, one thing is for certain: 2021’s Australian Open might just be one of the best in years.