Del Potro the outsider to monitor in Australian Open betting
Published:
2014 was a bit of a breakthrough year on the men’s tennis circuit, with Stanislas Wawrinka and Marin Cilic both adding their names to the list of Grand Slam winners, while Kei Nishikori was a surprise participant in the US Open final.
Punters would gladly pick out another underdog for the first Grand Slam of 2015, but picking who is obviously the million dollar question.
Novak Djokovic is the clear favourite at 5/4 to win the Australian Open, but the Serbian star believes that another upset from the new generation of players shouldn’t be written off.
However, rather than the new generation, if there is to be a surprise winner in Melbourne, the most likely candidate has to be Juan Martin del Potro.
Del Potro is 40/1 to win the Australian Open and has not played since his 2014 season ended prematurely during a match in Dubai in February. He has since had surgery on his wrist problems and arrives in Melbourne with decent claims.
The Argentine was a winner in Australia last year when lifting the trophy in Sydney and has previous Slam form on hard courts, when winning the US Open in 2009.
Meanwhile, his powerful serve and ability to keep rallies short will cause problems to the top seeds and he has shown an ability to defeat the likes of Djokovic and Andy Murray in the past.
Del Potro also showed signs of returning to his previous best in 2013, when reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon, but his wrist problems have been a major hindrance since.
Backing him does come with a bit of a risk because of his lack of match practice, but this is certainly factored into his price.
A healthy Delpo at the height of his powers would arguably be a single-figure price to win a Grand Slam.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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