The 2021 Australian Open gets underway on February 8 at Melbourne Park. The season’s first tennis grand slam tournament features no surprise favorites in the men’s event. Any one of a handful of women could get hot and capture the season’s first major title.
Here’s a look at the top contenders for the 2021 Australian Open.
We took the tennis futures betting odds from the BetOnline Sportsbook.
The Big Two – Djokovic and Nadal
Over the course of the past 13 Australian Opens, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have combined to win nine titles. Djokovic, the +110 favorite to win a third consecutive title, has won eight championships and is the No. 1-ranked player in the world currently. Djokovic is 75-8 at the Australian Open and a perfect 8-0 in the tournament’s finals.
Nadal, who is listed at +500 to win this year, won the 2009 Open and has lost in the finals four times. He has only lost before the quarterfinals one time since 2005.
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The Next Two
If there is a player who can unseat Djokovic as the king of the Australian Open, it might be either Dominic Thiem or Daniil Medvedev. Thiem, the world’s No. 3 right not, took Djokovic to five sets in last year’s Australian Open final. Thiem, who is listed at +500, was last year’s U.S. Open champion and he has made the finals of the French Open (2018, 2019) twice.
Medvedev (+550) finished last season on a high and he’s no stranger to Grand Slam finals having played for the 2019 U.S. Open title. Medvedev is currently the fourth-ranked player in the world.
The Others
With six-time Australian Open champion Roger Federer out of the tournament due to injury, there is not a long list of other contenders to dethrone Djokovic. Stefano Tsitsipas (+1200) has never made a Grand Slam final, but he is ranked No. 6 in the world.
Alexander Zverev (+1200) played for last year’s U.S. Open title and made the semifinals of last year’s Australian Open. Andy Murray is 33 years old, but he has played in five Australian Open finals the most recent in 2016. Murray is longshot to win this year at +3300 as is 35-year-old Stan Wawrinka (+4000) who won the 2014 Australian Open.
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Top Women Contenders at the 2021 Aussie Open
There is a strong group of five to six contenders for the 2021 women’s Australian Open champion. Naomi Osaka, who won the tournament in 2019, is the overall favorite at +700. Ashleigh Barty is the world’s top-ranked women’s tennis player and is listed at +800 to win. Barty made it to the semifinals of last year’s tournament.
Serena Williams has won seven Australian Open championships, the most recent in 2017. That was Williams’ last Grand Slam title. Despite being 39 years of age, Williams is ranked 11th in the world and given +800 odds to win an eighth Open title.
Last year’s Australian Open winner was Sofia Kenin who became the youngest American since Williams to win a Grand Slam event. Kenin is ranked No. 4 in the world currently. She played in the French Open final last year and is listed at +1000 to win a second consecutive Australian Open.
Simona Halep is ranked No. 2 in the world and checks in at +1000 to win this year’s first Grand Slam event. Halep made it to the finals in Melbourne in 2018.
Bianca Andreescu, who became the first player to win a Grand Slam singles title (2019 U.S. Open) as a teenager since Maria Sharapova, is coming off an injury-riddled 2020. Andreescu is listed at +1200 to win the 2021 Australian Open.
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