Tennis Betting: 3 Early Picks For Men’s 2021 Australian Open

The 2021 men’s Australian Open is the first major tournament of the new year, and it comes after a fascinating and weird 2020 journey in which Dominic Thiem won his first major title and Rafael Nadal won his 20th. The Australian Open has been Novak Djokovic’s domain for most of the past decade. Djokovic has won four of the past six Australian Opens and he has claimed the past two. He has established a comfort zone in Australia which is magnified when you consider that he was not healthy for the 2018 tournament and had some shoulder problems entering the 2017 event. When healthy, he has ruled the roost in Australia, and it figures to take a mighty effort to knock him off his perch. Can someone do it? Let’s see.

Novak Djokovic

Though some legitimate contenders exist, Djokovic’s record speaks for itself with four Australian Open trophies in the past six appearances in Melbourne Park. One added point to make is that Djokovic – by getting defaulted from the U.S. Open this past September, due to hitting a lineswoman with a ball – lost a tournament without losing three sets to a player. He didn’t even finish one full set in that infamous match against Pablo Carreno Busta. It’s not as though another player outclassed him; Djokovic simply lost his temper and paid a huge price. If we are talking strictly about tennis – and which player is better – Djokovic remains the best in the world. Rafael Nadal is the best clay-court player in the world, but Djokovic reached the Roland Garros final before losing to Rafa. On non-clay surfaces, Djokovic is still the gold standard, and everyone else has to prove they can beat Djokovic before being considered a better choice to win the tournament. This remains Djokovic’s event to lose.

Rafael Nadal

Nadal has had a lot of bad luck in Australia, suffering injuries at various points in previous tournaments over the past decade, but he still gives himself a chance to win. He reached the final in 2019 before losing to an in-form Djokovic. Last year, he lost to Dominic Thiem in a razor-close quarterfinal. Nadal improbably lost three separate tiebreakers in the same match, an unheard-of occurrence. Nadal was able to play Thiem on very even terms; he just didn’t win the extra handful of points he needed to advance deeper in the tournament. Nadal reminded everyone at the French Open last year how good he is as a problem solver. His dominant straight-set win over Djokovic should fill him with confidence for this tournament and propel him to the top of the non-Djokovic list of title contenders.

Dominic Thiem

Is it a surprise that Dominic Thiem should be placed on the short list of men’s favorites? It shouldn’t be. Thiem led Djokovic two sets to one in last year’s men’s final before losing in five sets. Thiem might not have won the Australian Open, but he came very close. When Thiem then beat Alexander Zverev at the U.S. Open last year, he finally claimed his first major title. He did so not on his favorite surface, clay, but on hardcourts, where he had struggled until the 2018 U.S. Open. Thiem is now producing strong results at every hardcourt tournament he plays. He narrowly lost the final of the 2020 ATP Finals in London, falling to Daniil Medvedev in three close sets. Thiem making the final would not shock anyone. If he is able to win the final, some people might be surprised, but it would merely mark the Austrian as a player who is finally maximizing his talent.