US Open Betting Preview

The 2010 US Open tournament begins this week and we should see plenty of action and thrills, but who should we be backing to win at Flushing Meadows?

Men’s Tournament:

The reigning champion – Juan Martin Del Potro – is out of this year’s competition with injury, but will this mean that Roger Federer, last year’s beaten finalist, can reclaim the title he held for five years previous to that loss? Or will Andy Murray win his first Grand Slam? Or could Rafael Nadal finally win at Flushing Meadows and complete the set of winning all four Grand Slam events?

US Open Odds for the Top 10 Players:

Roger Federer – 3.50

Andy Murray – 3.75

Rafael Nadal – 3.75

Novak Djokovic – 11.00

Andy Roddick – 17.00

Robin Soderling – 17.00

Tomas Berdych – 17.00

David Nalbandian – 21.00

Nikolay Davydenko – 34.00

Mardy Fish – 34.00

With Juan Martin Del Potro out of the picture and unable to defend his title at this year’s competition, the online sportsbook have, predictably, Federer, Nadal and Murray at the top. The question is, like last year, can one of the dark horses manage to cause an upset at the final Grand Slam of the year?

Federer is the favourite to claim the title and he has looked good on the hard courts so far this season and he has reached the final of his last two tournaments on this surface. As well as this Federer has reached the US Open final in each of the last six years (winning all five titles between 2004 and 2008, dropping just two sets in those five finals). Despite this, Federer has not had his best season in 2010 and has looked off the pace at several stages. However, he seems to be getting things back in order and the Swiss legend has an excellent chance of reclaiming his US Open title.

Top seed for this year’s tournament, Rafael Nadal, has not had a good time of things at the US Open (it is the only Grand Slam that he has not won). His best results came in 2008 and 2009 when he was beaten by runner-up Andy Murray and winner Juan Martin Del Potro at the Semi Final stage. Nadal has played the same warm up tournaments as Federer, but he only reached the Quarter Finals in Cincinnati and lost at the Semi Final stages to eventual winner Andy Murray at the Rogers Cup. However, Rafael Nadal loves playing the big events and he will have saved his best efforts for the final Grand Slam of the year, so expect him to come out swinging, so to speak.

Andy Murray comes into the tournament as joint second favourite with Nadal after playing three warm up tournaments. He reached at least the final eight in each of three tournaments, notably winning the Rogers Cup by beating Roger Federer in straight sets. Murray is yet to win a Grand Slam event, but he reached the final of the Australian Open this season and he reached the final at Flushing Meadows in 2008, losing to Federer on both occasions. He has performed well in the run up to the US Open this season and seems to enjoy playing on the hard courts. I think that this tournament gives the Scotsman his best chance of winning a Grand Slam to this point in his career.

I can’t see anyone but one of the previous three winning the title, but I’m going to look at one dark horse pick for laying off later in the tournament. My pick for this is home favourite Andy Roddick. The current world number nine and 2003 US Open champion will again be looking to put on a good show for the home support. Roddick always puts in good performances on home soil and he won tournaments in San Jose and Miami as well as reaching the final at Indian Wells earlier in the year following the Australian Open. In his warm up preparations for the US Open Roddick reached two Semi Finals, at Cincinnati and Atlanta. Roddick will want to improve on last year’s third round elimination and this will make him tough to beat. He will at least want to reach the Quarter Finals like the two years previously and I can see Roddick doing at least that, but I cannot see him getting any further than the Semi Finals at best.

Our Betting Recommendations:

With Nadal never having won at the US Open and Federer having an off season, I feel that Andy Murray will claim his first Grand Slam title at the US Open.

Back an Andy Murray victory at odds of 3.75.