Australian Open Tennis Spread Betting

No sooner does the tennis season end than it starts again! This year begins with the Australian Open in Melbourne and offers the chance for another mouth-watering final between Rafa and Roger or perhaps Andy Murray's first Grand Slam victory? Whoever comes through the early rounds, we will be here to analyse the business end of the tournament and any value that may be on offer...

Mens Singles:

Contenders:
Roger Federer -He seems to have hit top gear in his last two matches and was able to despatch Roddick with consumate ease in the semi-final. Crucially, he had a long recovery period and will start the final much fresher than his opponent Nadal.
Fed will be trying to stretch Nadal to the limit and will have seen how Nadal failed to cope with Verdasco's sliding service out wide to the forehand and his occasional forrays to the net.
The Swiss master is slight favourite on the Sporting Index spread and should justify this favouritism in four energy-sapping sets. If it goes to five sets then the pendulum swings back to the Spaniard.


Rafa Nadal -After completing the longest match in Australian Open history, Rafa will have it all to do to beat Federer after such a short recovery period. His groundstrokes have definitely improved over the last 12 months and his ability to shorten his swing to cope with the speed of the ball on the hard surface.
As ever, the longer a rally continues -the more likely he is to win it, so he will be trying to to keep the ball deep in the backcourt and away from Fed's imperious backhand.
His record against Fed is outstanding (10-5) and he has won their last 4 meetings, but this will test the gifted left-hander to the limit.


Womens Singles:

Serena Williams -Although she hasn't played her best in this tournament, the gods are favouring her -with retirement of an opponent, weather and form all on her side.
She won't have to be at the top of her game to beat Safina, she will just have to be slightly better than the Russian...

Dinara Safina- Whilst she has the hardest groundstrokes in women's tennis at the moment, she doesn't yet have the control or self-belief required to be the No.1 player.
She can push Serena to the limit in this match and can dig herself out of deep holes -she has yet to win a major tournament and this run is set to continue here.
Verdict: Serena to win in one difficult, then one easier set.