Opening ATP 2020 Australian Open Odds: Djokovic Listed as Heavy Favorite

• Sportsbooks list defending champion Novak Djokovic as the heavy favorite to win the 2020 Australian Open
• Djokovic won back-to-back Australian Open titles as recently as 2015-16
• He’s won the Aussie Open a record seven times

As defending champion of the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic has generally fared quite well in the past. The seven-time Aussie Open champ won as defending champion in 2012 and 2013, and again in 2016.

https://twitter.com/4uNole/status/1108325820290994176

No wonder in its future book on the 2020 Australian Open, sportsbooks  see Djokovic as the heavy favorite to win again.

2020 Australian Open Men’s Singles Odds

*Odds taken on 03/21/19. Follow the link in the table above for a complete list of all players.

Djokovic also won the Australian Open in 2008, 2011 and 2015. He’s never lost in an Aussie Open final.

Take a look at our 2020 Australian Open Odds Tracker to see the average odds of all top contenders.

Defending Djokovic Choice Not Necessary

Djokovic has become Mr. Grand Slam. He’s the only Serbian player to be ranked no. 1 in the world by the ATP and the only Serb to win a Grand Slam title. Djokovic is also the only male player to have won all nine of the Masters 1000 tournaments.

It’s on the biggest stages in tennis where Djokovic truly shines. Currently, Djokovic is the defending champion at both Wimbledon and the US Open along with the Australian Open.

Should he win in the French Open, which goes from May 26th-June 9th, Djokovic would be the first male player to hold all four corners of the tennis Grand Slam since… Djokovic in 2016.

'I want to have a shot at getting closer to Roger's record'

Novak Djokovic eyes Federer's 20 Grand Slams haul after clinching Australian Open titlehttps://t.co/XHes0aRHPx pic.twitter.com/Wgm4zouoEb

— Mail Sport (@MailSport) January 28, 2019

He was the third player in tennis history to hold all four titles at once and the first since Rod Laver in 2016. Djokovic is the only player to win the career Grand Slam on three different surfaces (grass, clay, hard). He was the eighth men’s player in tennis to complete the career Grand Slam.

Djokovic shows 15 Grand Slam titles on his resume.

Is Roger Over and Out?

The Fab Four are breaking up. Well, in this case, they are breaking down. Of the four players who’ve dominated tennis the past decade, only Djokovic still appears to be on top of his game.

'It’s tough for me to accept all these things that I’m going through in my career…. Sometimes I feel sad because I’m at a disadvantage to all my opponents.'

Rafael Nadal forced to withdraw from Indian Wells before Roger Federer semi-final https://t.co/bCLTireN2v

— Louis Sealey (@LouisSealey) March 16, 2019

Rafael Nadal has struggled with knee issues and recently withdrew from his semifinal vs Roger Federer at Indian Wells when it flared up again. Federer, 37, lost the final there to Dominic Thiem and is 3-7 in his last 10 matches against players ranked among the world’s top 10.

https://twitter.com/DPCarv/status/1107183540649627648

Andy Murray hopes to return for Wimbledon following hip surgery.

Stay Within the Chalk

History tells us the Australian Open is not a tournament where you should be backing longshots in search of a big payday.

Maybe it’s because the tournament is held at the start of the tennis season and no players are taxed or tired or nursing ailments. In the Australian Open, the form charts rarely falter.

10 of the last 20 Aussie Opens went to the no. 1 seed, including Djokovic in 2019. In fact, five of his seven titles were earned as the top-seeded player. There’s also been three wins by the two-seed, two by the No. 3 seed and one each from no. 4, no. 6, and no. 8.

Federer was 17th-seeded when he won in 2017. His low seeding was because the world’s former no. 1 player hadn’t played since July due to knee surgery.

The one true surprise was in 2002, when Sweden’s Thomas Johansson won as a 16-seed.

Our advice is to stay within the chalk. And unless his game begins to falter, stay with Djokovic.