Sports » Tennis Betting » Australian Open
Event Date: 14th January 2008
The Australian Open is the first Grand Slam of the year, held annually in mid-January at Melbourne Park, Melbourne.
Being so early in the season, it can be difficult to judge a player's form as they may have only played one or two buildup tournaments.
Players will often have travelled to Australia for the start of the year, to play in the tournaments in Adelaide and Sydney, so these are tournaments to look for form from.
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam to feature indoor play, as both the Rod Laver and Vodafone arenas feature retractable roofs, which can be used in case of extreme heat, or rain.
Seedings for 2008 Australian Open
- Roger Federer, Switzerland
- Rafael Nadal, Spain
- Nikolay Davydenko, Russia
- Ivan Ljubicic, Croatia
- James Blake, United States
- Andy Roddick, United States
- Tommy Robredo,Spain
- David Nalbandian, Argentina
- Mario Ancic, Croatia
- Fernando Gonzalez, Chile
- Marcos Baghdatis, Cyprus
- Tommy Haas, Germany
- Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic
- Novak Djokovic, Serbia
- Andy Murray, Britain
- David Ferrer, Spain
- Jarkko Nieminen, Finland
- Richard Gasquet, France
- Lleyton Hewitt, Australiao
- Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic
- Dmitry Tursunov, Russia
- Dominik Hrbaty, Slovakia
- Robin Soderling, Sweden
- Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain
- Mikhail Youzhny, Russia
- Marat Safin, Russia
- Jose Acasuso, Argentina
- Sebastien Grosjean, France
- Xavier Malisse, Belgium
- Agustin Calleri, Argentina
- Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland
- Nicolas Almagro, Spain
Main Contenders for the Australian Open
| Roger Federer |
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| Rafael Nadal |
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| Novak Djokovic |
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Federer missed the Kooyong classic through illness, so might come here slightly rusty. Having said that, he'll have a fairly easy draw being No.1 seed, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Rafa had a decent preparation getting ot the final of one of the buildup tournaments to the Aussie Open, but very unusually for the Spaniard, he was destroyed - by Russian Mikhael Youzhny - 6:0 6:1. Perhaps a little rustiness crept in, so it's fair to give him the benefit of the doubt there.
The big Serb comes here fresh after not competing in any of the warmup events. That might be a good thing as he looked very fatigued towards the end of last season, losing in the early rounds of the last couple of tournaments.
Previous Winners of the Australian Open
| Year | Winner | Runner-Up | Score | ||
| 2008 |  |
Novak Đoković |  |
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga | 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6(2) |
| 2007 |  |
Roger Federer |  |
Fernando González | 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4 |
| 2006 | |
Roger Federer |  |
Marcos Baghdatis | 5-7 7-5 6-0 6-2 |
| 2005 |  |
Marat Safin |  |
Lleyton Hewitt | 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 |
| 2004 | |
Roger Federer | |
Marat Safin | 7-6(3) 6-4 6-2 |
| 2003 |  |
Andre Agassi |  |
Rainer Schuettler | 6-2 6-2 6-1 |
| 2002 |  |
Thomas Johansson | |
Marat Safin | 3-6 6-4 6-4 7-6(4) |
| 2001 | |
Andre Agassi | |
Arnaud Clément | 6-4 6-2 6-2 |
| 2000 | |
Andre Agassi | |
Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 |
| 1999 | |
Yevgeny Kafelnikov | |
Thomas Enqvist | 4-6 6-0 6-3 7-6 |
| 1998 |  |
Petr Korda | |
Marcelo Rios | 6-2 6-2 6-2 |
| 1997 | |
Pete Sampras |  |
Carlos Moyá | 6-2 6-3 6-3 |
| 1996 | |
Boris Becker | |
Michael Chang | 6-2 6-4 2-6 6-2 |
| 1995 | |
Andre Agassi | |
Pete Sampras | 4-6 6-1 7-6 6-4 |
| 1994 | |
Pete Sampras | |
Todd Martin | 7-6 6-4 6-4 |
| 1993 | |
Jim Courier | |
Stefan Edberg | 6-2 6-1 2-6 7-5 |
| 1992 | |
Jim Courier | |
Stefan Edberg | 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-2 |
| 1991 | |
Boris Becker | |
Ivan Lendl | 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 |
