US Open Tennis Preview and Odds
By SPORTSBETTING.COM
You know summer is drawing to a close when NFL preseason starts and the final Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year is about to begin.
Set to begin Monday at Flushing Meadows in New York, the 2009 U.S. Open will see a familiar face seeded No. 1 on the men’s side in Roger Federer and Dinara Safina at the top of the women’s draw.
Safina is listed at +1000 to take her first-ever Grand Slam singles title and Federer is listed at +120 to take his third Grand Slam title this year.
After losing to archrival Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final, Federer rebounded to take both the French Open and Wimbledon, although he didn’t face Nadal in either of the finals.
Since his Wimbledon triumph over Andy Roddick, Federer has taken part in two tournaments; losing in the quarters of the ATP Masters Series Rogers Cup to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and defeating Novak Djokovic in the final of the recent ATP Masters Series Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.
Federer will face former NCAA men’s singles champion Devin Britton in the opening round of the U.S. Open.
Rafael Nadal is listed at +350 to win the U.S. Open, and while it might be tempting to wager on him—he did take this year’s Aussie Open—it might be wise to hold off.
Nadal suffered his first loss ever at the French Open, losing in the Robin Söderling in the fourth round of the French Open and he pulled out of the Wimbledon and its warm up events with tendinitis in his knees.
He would return for the Rogers Cup and make it to the quarterfinals before losing to Juan Martin Del Potro.
At the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters he made it all the way to the semis before losing to Novak Djokovic, cheating fans of a Nadal-Federer final.
Nadal has dropped from top spot in the ATP rankings to his current position at No. 3.
Nadal faces France’s Richard Gasquet in his U.S. Open opening-round match and is at the opposite end of the draw from Federer.
Could the two meet in the final?
On the women’s side, for a No. 1 seed, the odds for Dinara Safina to win the U.S. Open women’s title seem a little steep, at +1000.
Though she has made it to a number of Grand Slam singles finals, Safina has yet to take home a title.
In fact, she made it to the finals of this year’s Australian and French Opens, losing to Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova respectively—she lost to Venus Williams in the semifinals at Wimbledon.
Is Safina due for a Grand Slam title?
Speaking of the Williams sisters, Serena is the odds-on to take this year’s U.S. Open women’s title at +175 while Venus is favored at +400.
Serena has had a good year, especially when it comes to Grand Slam events.
Although she lost in the quarters in singles action and third round in doubles action with sister Venus at the French Open, she took both the singles and doubles event titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Three out of four in 2009 wouldn’t be bad.
Enjoy the US Open action.