The Australian Tennis Open
The Australian Open tennis championship is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the Southern hemisphere. The land responsible for giving us Kylie Minogue…yum-yum…first held the Aussie Open in 1905 when it was contested on grass. The last grass final was held in 1987 and since that date the tournament has been played on forms of hard court.
As we encroach into the New Year, fans of tennis will once again be averting their gaze to Melbourne and the Aussie Open after the draw was released. There are some wonderful surprises including tennis legends Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer being pooled in the same half of the draw for the first time since 2005. This potentially mighty clash opens the way in the other side of the draw for defending champion, Novak Djokovic, to make another deep run.
The 2010, women’s final was contested between Kim Clijsters and Li Na. Clijsters eventually overpowered the French Open champion to take down the Grand Slam event and the pair of them could once again clash, this time as early as the fourth round, as they find themselves pooled in the same half of the draw.
Also found lurking in that side of the draw is Caroline Wozniacki so expect fireworks from those three. Over in the other side of the woman’s draw we see the five-time Aussie Open champion Serena Williams battling it out with the likes of Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Unsurprisingly, reigning champion and world number one Novak Djokovic is the betting favourite to retain his title. In the women’s event, it is the world number two, Petra Kvitova, who is currently the betting favourite.
· Bodog