2024 Men's (ATP) Australian Open Betting Preview

January 13, 2024

The 112^th edition of the Australian Open (56^th in the Open Era) is set to start this weekend. In the tournament's 119-year history, this will be the first time the Australian Open Tennis Championships will be held on an opening Sunday.

Led by the top-two seeds Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, 128 men will be aiming to secure the season's opening Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park, but only two of them will reach the final on 28 January and only one will lift the famous trophy at Rod Laver Arena.

The iconic Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena are the main venues waiting for the tennis elite, but unfortunately, Rafael Nadal - one of the undisputed tennis greats - picked up an injury on his return to the ATP Tour at the Brisbane International earlier this month.

The big question is: can Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev or Jannik Sinner dethrone Novak Djokovic in Melbourne? We’ve been asking the same question for years, and the answer has almost always been no.

But while that’s still the main question on the eve of the season opening Grand Slam, it’s certainly not the only one worth asking, or pondering.

Novak Djokovic +105

Breaking record after record, Novak Djokovic is aiming to build on his own legacy. He once again triumphed at Melbourne Park twelve months ago - his 10^th Australian Open crown - and also won the French Open and US Open, where he dropped just two sets en route to the title, but Djokovic was stopped by Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon.

Novak Djokovic took a six-week break following his latest US Open triumph and returned to the ATP Tour at the Paris Masters, where he claimed his seventh Paris Masters title and 40^th Masters 1000 overall.

He wrapped up 2023 with a record-breaking seventh ATP Finals title. All in all, even though he competed in only 12 tournaments, Djokovic led the Tour in titles with seven, the most he had claimed in a single year since 2016.

Novak Djokovic suffered a wrist injury during the United Cup, and that probably played its part in his first defeat in Australia since 2018.

The Serb, however, downplayed concerns about a right wrist injury ahead of the Australian Open. Based on his own optimism, Djokovic should be fit enough and able to clinch his 25^th Grand Slam title.

Stefanos Tsitsipas +4000

Last year's finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas arrives at Melbourne Park after losing three consecutive semi-finals in Europe last autumn (in Antwerp, Vienna and Paris), and following early exits during the Asian hard-court swing.

Furthermore, the Greek was forced to withdraw from the ATP Finals due to injury to close a rather disappointing season.

The 2024 Australian Open men's singles draw hasn't been really favorable for Tsitsipas, who will face Matteo Berrettini of Italy in the first round. Even if he goes through, Novak Djokovic is a potential quarter-final opponent for the Greek.

With that said, we highly doubt that Tsitsipas could be consistent enough to win the 1^st Quarter, let alone the Australian Open crown.

Jannik Sinner +600

Having reached the final match of the Nitto ATP Finals at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy, a highly anticipated new campaign begins for Jannik Sinner.

Following his final loss to Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals last November, Jannik Sinner ended the season on a high with a few great wins at the Davis Cup. This also included a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Djokovic.

The Italian rounded off last season with a burst of brilliance, beating Novak Djokovic twice and guiding his country to its first Davis Cup since 1976. Now the tennis world wants to know: Can Sinner translate that form into a Major title in 2024?

Sinner already reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last season and had reached the quarterfinals of all other Majors. The 22-year-old was recognized as one of the brightest talents in men's tennis and we believe that his success is only a matter of time.

Alex de Minaur +3300

Australia's top-seed Alex de Minaur starts his Australian Open journey with a match against the 2016 semi-finalist Milos Raonic of Canada, whose Protected Ranking allows him to compete at the season-opening Grand Slam.

Alex De Minaur is yet to surpass the round of 16 at Melbourne Park, losing at this stage to Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic in the last two years. Now the top-ranked Australian could once again face either of them in the later rounds, but he might have to deal with fifth-seed Andrey Rublev of Russia in the fourth round.

Losing his first match at the United Cup to Great Britain's Cameron Norrie (4-6, 6-2, 6-7), Alex de Minaur looked stellar in his next matches in the competition. This includes wins against Taylof Fritz of the United States, Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Sascha Zverev of Germany, as he only dropped a set against the German.

De Minaur won 6-4, 6-4 against Serbia's Novak Djokovic in the United Cup quarter-finals, thus ending the Serb's 18-match winning streak in Australia, while he also beat Germany's Alexander Zverev 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, but Australia lost 2-1 to the Germans in the semi-finals.

Daniil Medvedev +900

Reaching back-to-back Australian Open finals in 2021 and 2022, and almost winning the second of them against Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev stumbled in the third-roud last year.

After his collapse against Nadal two years ago, Medvedev enjoyed two comfortable wins over Marcos Giron of the United States and Australia's John Millman in 2023, when the Russian lost in straight-sets to Sebastian Korda of the United States.

Daniil Medvedev is favored to win the 3^rd Quarter at +140 with Everygame, but the Russian has some dark horses into his bracket, including the likes of Holger Rune, Grigor Dimitrov, Hubert Hurkacz and Felix Auger Aliassime.

Grigor Dimitrov +3300

Grigor Dimitrov had just beat Denmark's Holger Rune 7-6(5), 6-4 to clinch his 9^th tour-level title and his second in the Queensland capital.

Dimitrov reached his maiden ATP final at the Brisbane International in 2013 when he lost in straight-sets to Andy Murray. Four years later, Dimitrov returned to Brisbane to win his fifth career title with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Kei Nishikori of Japan.

In another huge step towards his resurrection, Dimitrov reached the Paris Masters final in November. The top-ranked Bulgarian secured his first Masters 1000 final appearance since winning the title at Cincy in August 2017, as he lost to Novak Djokovic.

Ever since he reached the Rotterdam Open final in February 2018 (a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Roger Federer), the Bulgarian had to wait over five years until he reached the Geneva Open final last May. It was another setback as Dimitrov lost to Nicolás Jarry of Chile, but it was a sign of his strong desire to once again reach a peak level of performance as well as a late-career surge.

Dimitrov will have to remain focused against Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in the first round, while the Bulgarian has some challenging potential matchups in his side of the draw. Third-seed Daniil Medvedev as well as 23^rd-seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain and 27^th-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime

The 32-year-old Bulgarian will immerse himself in the season-opening Grand Slam high on confidence and while there are discussions whether he plays the best tennis of his career, the Bulgarian looks more mature in his work.

Hubert Hurkacz +8000

Having reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2021, Hubert Hurkacz is yet to produce another similar Grand Slam performance. However, the Polish player looked solid during his country's United Cup campaign, where Poland reached the final but ultimately lost to Germany.

Hurkacz played in all five singles matches and also partnered Iga Swiatek in most mixed doubles matches. he managed to beat Brazil's Thiago Seyboth Wild, Zhang Zhizhen of China and Adrian Mannarino of France, but also lost matches against Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and the final against Alexander Zverev of Germany.

Having reached the Australian Open round of 16 twelve months ago, Hurkacz hopes to take the next step in 2024, but Poland's top-ranked male player finds himself in the same quarter alongside eighth-seed Holger Rune, 13^th-seed Grigor Dimitrov, third-seed Daniil Medvedev and some other tricky opponents, including a potential second round tie with Denis Shapovalov.

Andrey Rublev +5000

Still struggling to overcome his dreadful quarter final record at Majors, Andrey Rublev had reached this stage nine times, losing on all nine occasions.

Thus, Rublev remains the male player of the Open Era to have done so the most times without progressing to the semifinals and the Russian will be eager to finally end this awful record this year. Sp, can he do it at Melbourne Park in January? We don't think so, but we cannot underestimate the No. 5 seed.

Carlos Alcaraz +330 and Alexander Zverev +2200

Sixth-seed Alexander Zverev will kick-off his Australian Open campaign with an all-German clash against Dominik Koepfer. Zverev already won his previous two matches against Koepfer and could also have a comfortable second round matchup.

His section of the draw includes 11^th seed Casper Ruud of Norway, 19^th seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain as well as 32^nd seed Jiri lehecka of the Czech Republic as a potential third-round opponent.

The main question is whether Zverev is ready to challenge Carlos Alcaraz right now? The German was outclassed by Alcaraz 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the US Open quarter-finals last season, but he still holds a 4-3 record over his Spanish counterpart.

Zverev claimed a 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win over Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP Finals in November, but this wasn't enough for him to advance as the German remained third in the Red group, even though he won two of his matches (against Alcaraz and Rublev).

Would Zverev bounce back stronger than ever? It's yet to be seen, but the sixth-seed shouldn't be underestimated, yet we are not ready to bet against Alcaraz until we see the first couple of games at the Australian Open.

However, Zverev proved how determined he is to open a new chapter in his career. He inspired Germany's success at the second edition of the United Cup, playing singles and mixed-doubles (with either Laura Siegemund and Angelique Kerber) in all the ties.

He did well to claim comeback wins over Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, France's Adrian Mannarino and Poland's Hubert Hurkacz in the final, while he also beat Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in straight-sets. Zverev's only defeat at the United Cup came against Australia's Alex de Minaur in three sets.

You can get odds of -143 and +400 on Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, respectively, to win the 4^th Quarter.

The Americans (Ben Shelton +5000, Taylor Fritz +8000, Tommy Paul +10000)

With four American men ranked between 12^th and 17^th place, and Sebastian Korda seeded 29^th, the United States are still waiting for their first male Grand Slam champion in over 20 years (since Andy Roddick won the US Open title in 2003).

Twelve months ago, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul and Sebastian Korda all made it three US men in the Australian Open quarter-finals, the most at Melbourne Park for the country since 2000.

Korda was once again seeded 29^th last year when he made his way to the quarter-finals, whereas Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton (both unseeded) faced each for a place in the semi-finals.

Tommy Paul reached the Australian Open semi-finals last year and the 26-year-old also reached the fourth round at the US Open.

Ben Shelton lost his Australian Open quarter-final to fellow compatriot Tommy Paul, but the former snatched a victory in the replay of their matchup at the US Open.

Going one step further at the US Open, Ben Shelton was involved in some all-US ties en route to the semi-finals. Shelton managed to beat Tommy Paul in the fourth round and he also eliminated Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-finals until his semi-final against eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

It was a breakthrough year for the young American, who celebrated his 21^sth birthday in October. A month he'll remember for sure. Not only because Shelton earned a comeback win over fourth seed Jannik Sinner of Italy for the biggest win of his career at the Shanghai Masters, but he also went on to win his maiden ATP title in Tokyo.

Ben Shelton won his maiden ATP title at the Japan Open in October when the young American claimed a 7-5, 6-1 win over Aslan Karatsev of Russia. It was Shelton's first ATP final and it came only a couple of weeks after his remarkable US Open campaign.

Defending quarterfinalist’s points at Melbourne Park, the explosive American is set to ride on his Australian Open journey with a clash against experienced Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.

However, even if Shelton performs well to reach the fourth round, he'll eventually have to play Novak Djokovic (assuming that we don't witness a shock) and we don't expect another long-run from him.

Spooky Express Betting Predictions

Spooky Express Free Play 1: To Win Outright - Novak Djokovic +105 at Everygame for 8/10 Units

Spooky Express Free Play 2: 2^nd Quarter Winner - Jannik Sinner -118 at Everygame for 7/10 Units

Spooky Express Free Play 3: 3^rd Quarter Winner - Grigor Dimitrov +500 at Everygame for 3/10 Units

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