Australian Open - Mens Preview
The start to the Aussie Open has begun on a disappointing note with the news that Andy Murray is facing the imminent onset of early retirement. Everyone involved in the game knew that a significant hip operation would never be something simple to recover from, but its still a surprise to hear that Murray really is finished now as a top player in the game. He's been a tremendous assett to the game over the past decade, so a quick StattoBets thanks to Andy for all the memories!
Onto Melbourne though where a fit again Novak Djokovic will be looking forward to making hay in the new era. If he can get back to his top level, the demise of Federer and Nadal should surely leave him a great opportunity to add more titles to his collect. He's 5/4 this week, but that's short enough.
Instead we're heading the the quarter markets. when Borna Coric looks a fair bet to upset Alexander Zverev and reach the semi-finals at 13/2. He has seriously impressive combined serve/receiving numbers in our database (which is missing a couple of months data unfortunately).
He's winning something in the order of 68% of service points against players outside the top 10, and over 41% of return points. That makes him dangerous, and he could navigate a tough looking section which also contains Zverev, Thiem, Wawrinka, Kyrgios, Raonic, Querrey and Pouille.
The 3rd Quarter looks a straight shoot out between Federer and Cilic to me. Bautista Agut loiters, while Khachanov could be the dark-horse here, but with Federer just 11/10 to win the section, I'm happy to look to Cilic at 13/2 here for the value.
Finally in the bottom section, Nadal, Berdych and Anderson are all possible semi-finalists. The former has some terrific numbers and could well be the dominant force. He'll need to get past Alex de Minaur early on, and we're going to add him in as a saver as well. He has shown signs of joining the elite players in his data and 16/1 for a place in the semi-finals is too long about the youngster.
1pt Coric to win Q2 at 13/2 (Sky Bet)
1pt Cilic to win Q3 at 13/2 (Skybet)
1pt de Minaur to win Q4 at 16/1 (Bet365)
1pt Nadal to win Q4 at 15/8 (Coral)