2011 Australian Open: Men's Singles Predictions | Thebigtip

Well the 2011 ATP tennis season is now in full swing and so is the first Grand Slam of the 2011 season. That is, the Australian Open. Kicking off the new tennis season at Melbourne Park. It is always one of the highlights of the year and 2011 should be no different.

Here are my predictions for the four quarters of the Men’s Draw.

First Quarter: For most Australians, this part of the draw is where most of the interest is. Australian Lleyton Hewitt is in this part of the draw and will be looking to have another deep run, much like his run to the Final in 2005 where he lost to Marat Safin. A lot of people think the best days are well and truly behind Lleyton and while I do think this is the case, at Melbourne Park he always elevates his game to another level. David Nalbandian is his 1^st Round opponent in what will be a very tough match, but I’m backing the Australian to get up.  The other Aussie in this part of the draw is Bernard Tomic. He’s up against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the 1^st Round and while Bernard achieved some great success at Melbourne Park in 2010 making the 2^nd Round, I don’t think he gets past Chardy. This is also where 2009 champion and No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal can be found. While the Spaniard is coming to Melbourne Park not feeling 100%, I still don’t think there is anybody in this part of the draw that, over five sets, will be able to take him down. He’s simply too good.

Second Quarter: To me, this is definitely the most open part of the draw. Robin Soderling headlines it as the No. 4 seed having taking the No. 4 ranking from Andy Murray after winning in Brisbane. But the record at Melbourne Park from the Swede is ordinary. He’s never made it past the 2^nd Round (04’ and 09’). Andy Murray is the No. 5 seed and will be looking to go one better than the Final he made in 2010. Also in this part of the draw of note is No. 13 seed Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, 2006 finalist and No. 21 seed Marcos Baghdatis and 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, who is back on the tour after battling injury last season. I think JMDP will probably be a little too underdone to make a serious run at winning at Melbourne Park while Baghdatis and Soderling are a little too inconsistent. That leaves Tsonga and Murray for mine to battle it out to meet Rafael Nadal in the Semi Finals, and I like the Scot to get the job done.

Third Quarter: On paper, this seems like almost the perfect draw for No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic. But make no mistake about it, this part of the draw is filled with banana skins. In Djokovic’s way is potentially Ivo Karlovic, Viktor Troicki, Ivan Ljubicic, Nicolas Almagro, Nikolay Davydenko, Fernando Verdasco and Tomas Berdych. That’s an extremely tough group of players that all have the potential to knock the Serb out. Not only that, the Melbourne heat has gotten Djokovic before. In saying all of this, Novak is coming off winning the Davis Cup so confidence will be at a near all time high and even though the players mentioned above pose great threats, I think Novak is primed for his biggest calendar year of his career and we’ll see him in the Semi Finals. Nikolay Davydenko I think is Novak’s biggest threat having made the Quarter Finals four times previously including last year.

Fourth Quarter: I really don’t think Roger Federer could have gotten a better draw. In his section is absolutely no one of note until at least the Quarter Finals. Then he could potentially face Andy Roddick, Stanislas Wawrinka or Gael Monfils but he has a very favourable record against all three of them. 18-2 against Roddick, 5-1 against Monfils and 6-1 against Wawrinka. Roddick has a fantastic record at Melbourne Park and will be Federer’s biggest test, but Roger will be meeting Novak Djokovic in the Semi Finals. His form is very good as well having won in Doha already in 2011.

Semi Finals: Andy Murray beat Rafa Nadal in the Quarter Finals last year and while Nadal leads the head to head 9-4, it’s 4-4 over the last eight matches. Murray would definitely fancy his chances and with Rafa being a little underdone coming to Melbourne Park, I think Murray to go to the Final. In the other Semi Final, I’m taking Novak Djokovic over Federer. Firstly the match should be at night which would benefit Novak greatly as it won’t be as hot, plus, he beat Federer in the US Open Semi Finals last year and beat Roger en route to his 2008 Australian Open crown.

Final: A mouth-watering match-up between the two next best things in the Men’s game after Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. I think the fact Djokovic has won a Grand Slam and also the Davis Cup before means mentally, he’ll know what it takes to win another Grand Slam, whereas losing two Grand Slam Finals already, Andy will be feeling it, especially if he goes down early.

2011 Australian Open Men's Champion: Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

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