Murray US Open win means good time to back Farah for SPOTY

Andy Murray’s epic five-set victory over Novak Djokovic has seen him shorten to 5/2 to be crowned Sports Personality of the Year, but Mo Farah looks the man to back at current prices.

Murray’s maiden Grand Slam title was a first by a Brit since Fred Perry 76 years ago and caps a fine year in which he also won a gold and a silver at the Olympic Games in the men’s singles and mixed doubles respectively.

This would be enough in most years to warrant winning Sports Personality of the Year, but with British achievement being so strong in 2012, it is unlikely to be enough this year.

Arguably Murray’s big event of the year was Wimbledon and the fact he lost in the final to Roger Federer may count against him.

Meanwhile, he has not endeared himself totally to all British fans in the past and there are still plenty that he has failed to win over, which could reduce his votes.

Bradley Wiggins remain favourite at 11/10, but this is the first time that he has not been odds-on for the accolade since winning the Tour De France.

This could make him good value now to take the Sports Personality of the Year award, especially if punters believe that Farah and Jessica Ennis will take votes from each other as both are from an athletics background.

In terms of true value, Ennis represents this at 12/1 as she has perhaps the biggest likeability factor of all the favourites.

Her overall achievement may be less than the others, but she was the poster girl for the Olympics and perhaps had the most pressure on her shoulders heading into the Games.

Furthermore, it should not be discounted that the fact she is female is a positive, with complaints in the past that there were no women among the leading contenders for the accolade.

However, Farah has to be considered at 11/4, given his two golds in London in the 5,000m and 10,000m, long-distance events where British males have barely ever achieved.

Furthermore, his mobot and antics with Usain Bolt will live long in the memory and showed the sort of personality that she be rewarded by an accolade of this title.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing