OK, if you absolutely had to pick the men’s winner of the first Grand Slam of the season which is only weeks away, you’d probably have to say it would be Novak Djokovic.
This is Djokovic’s favourite Grand Sam and he’s won four of the last seven. The world number one is also in top form. The 27 year-old emerged victorious at Wimbledon and more recently won both the Paris Bercy masters title, having not lost a single set (where he beat Raonic in the final) and the World Tour Finals trophy.
But if we’re looking for a little value in the betting market, we’d have to look outside the traditional big four of the men’s game; Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray – who are favourites for Australia in that order.
The fifth favourite is the man who won in Melbourne last year, knocking out Djokovic en-route, Stan Wawrinka.
But if we’re after some bigger value still, the man next on the list may be the bet; Kei Nishikori. The 24-year-old Japanese player is the new kid on the block and will surely win a Grand Slam pretty soon. He also beat Djokovic in the US Open yet is a 16-1 shot for Melbourne with bookmakers including 32 Red, Skybet and 888.
Interestingly with 32Red, though; the site also runs a casino. If you click here to play, you can get a straight £10 free plus another £32 for each further £10 deposited. And if you play through a few rounds of roulette, for example, betting simply red or black, odd or even etc., you’d have to be very unlucky not to have a good stake left over to transfer to the sports book.
This should give you a decent sized free bet for Melbourne and Kei Nishikori may be a shrewd wager. This year has been a breakthrough one for Nishikori and he’s ready to go one better.
Whether this happens at Melbourne on February 1st or a little later, is anyone’s guess. But he looks likely to be a big star of the future and will surely see out 2015 in the top four (he’s currently at a all time high of world number five).
His biggest moment in tennis so far came only a few months ago at Flushing Meadows, of course, when he reached the US Open final. He fell at the final hurdle to Marin Čilić but had beaten a number of top players on the way including the then world number six Milos Raonic in an epic five-setter that went on until 2:30 am. This saw him through to the quarter-finals, where he saw off Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka. He then beat world number one Djokovic in the semis.
So it looks like the young Japanese player has what it takes to win a big one and to do so pretty soon. And it could happen down-under.
Otherwise, keep an eye on this player – as he may be the next big thing in men’s tennis; time will tell.
