Djokovic handed top seed | Thebigtip

There were very few surprises as the men’s seeding for the upcoming Australian Open was released, with the world’s top-four making up the four highest seeds. Defending champion Novak Djokovic will go into the season’s opening Grand Slam as the top seed, with the Serbian looking to replicate his stunning achievements from last year.

Last year’s beaten finalist Andy Murray will be looking to make it third time lucky after suffering the pain of losing in the final twice. The Scot goes into the tournament as the fourth seed, however, will do it with plenty of confidence after claiming the Brisbane International title last week. Those following the Australian Open men's singles betting certainly cannot rule him out.

Rafael Nadal will start the Australian Open as the second seed and will be determined to add a second title to his 2009 triumph, but will have to show an improvement in form from how he ended 2011. The Spaniard has once again been struggling with injuries since the end of last season, a similar story to that of four-time Australian Open champion Roger Federer.

A back injury forced Federer to pull out of last week’s Qatar Open and there had been fears the Swiss maestro would be a doubt for the Melbourne-held Grand Slam. Those worries appear premature, however, and the 30-year old looks set to battle it out for his fifth title at Melbourne Park. People looking at the tennis betting should bear this in mind.

While it may be hard to look out of the top-four for this year’s likely champion, there are plenty of realistic challengers that aren’t part of that group. David Ferrer, who reached last year’s semi finals, will start the tournament as the fifth seed, with 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfred Tsonga sixth and big-hitting Czech Tomas Berdych in seventh. America’s Mardy Fish, Serbian Janko Tipsarevic and Spanish clay court wizard Nicolas Almagro make up the remaining places in the top-10.