ATP and WTA Tennis 2010 – Federer, Nadal and Clijsters start new seasons

The new season of the ATP and WTA Tennis tours are underway, with players warming up ahead of the season’s first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian open, which starts on January 18th. Three hard court tournaments have started, the Brisbane International, the  Qatar Open and the Aircel Chennai Open, alongside some other tournaments, as players shake themselves back into gear after their break.

CHENNAI OPEN
The Chennai Open is India’s only ATP World Tour tournament, and is a tournament of 32 players.  The tournament itself has been running for 15 years now. Sweden’s Robin Soderling is the top seed for the tournament, and although he making his debut there he looks the strongest in the field. Marin Cilic, the current Chennai Open title holder, is back to try and retain his title though, and will be pushing hard all of the way. The Croatian opens his defence against Igor Kunitsyn. In one of the most interesting first round matches, two times winner Carlos Moya faces fourth seed Janko Tipsarevic.

Chennai Open Outright Winner
Robin Soderling – 13/8 at Ladbrokes
Marin Cilic – 7/4 at Victor Chandler
Stanislas Wawrinka – 6/1 at William Hill
Janko Tipsarevic – 12/1 at SkyBet
Dudi Sela – 33/1 at Victor Chandler

BRISBANE OPEN
It wouldn’t be a bad idea playing in a Brisbane tournament ahead of the Australian Open one would assume. At least it would give some time for acclimatisation. Anyway, some of the big names to look out for are Andy Roddick, Radek Stepanek and Gael Monfils in the Brisbane Open for 2010. The tournament is being held at a stunningly impressive tennis centre, and the centre court bears the name of Australian tennis legend Pat Rafter. When it comes to sporting excellence, it is hard to top the Australians. For the tournament, Andy Roddick will start as strong favourite, and the competition which runs from January 3 to the 10th.
The Women’s WTA Tour is starting as well at the Brisbane Open, with the heroic Kim Clijsters seeded number one for the tournament. Clijsters won the US Open after coming out retirement last year, and it will be interesting to chart her progress through the tour during 2010. Already Clijsters is showing good form for the new year, as she cruised through her first round match, 6-2, 61. Other familiar names such as Daniela Hantuchova, Aleksandra Wozniak, Ana Ivanovic and Nadia Petrova will be where the main threats to Clijsters will be coming from.  One other name on the scorecard is the one of famous Belgian Justine Henin. Like Clijsters, Henin is making her comeback after retiring, and as a Wild Card entrant, she face Nadia Petrova (seeded number 2) in the first round.

Brisbane International Open ATP Tour Men’s Outright Winner
Andy Roddick – 5/2 at BetFred
Radek Stepanek – 5/1 at SkyBet
Gael Monfils – 5/1 at Stan James
Tomas Berdych – 9/1 at Coral
Marco Baghdadis – 16/1 at Bet365

Brisbane International Open WTA Women’s Outright Winner
Kim Clijsters – 6/4 at Paddy Power
Justine Henin – 10/3 at Coral
Ana Ivanovo – 12/1 at Coral
Nadia Petrova – 14/1 at William Hill
Daniela Hantuchova – 16/1 at William Hill

Qatar Open
Held in Doha, the Qatar open is one of two ATP tournaments held in the middle east. This is where the two biggest names in the world of tennis are opening their 2010 campaigns. Swiss legend Roger Federer and Spaniard Rafael Nadal are the big headline stars of tournament. Nikolay Davydenko is also in the mix, and he has been in the semi finals of the Qatar open three times. But it is of course World Number One Roger Federer, who everyone else will aiming for in 2010. He is the current ATP World Tour Champion and he has won twice in Qatar in 2005 and 2006. Nadal and Federer opened the tournament with a display on a magic flying carpet, which didn’t really look as cool as it sounds. Federer opens his account against Christope Rochus, while Nadal plays Simone Bolelli.

ATP Qatar Open Outright
Roger Federer – 6/5 at SkyBet
Rafael Nadal – 9/4 at Stan James
Nikolay Davydenko – 9/2 at Ladbrokes
Mikhail Youzhny – 25/1 at SkyBet
Ivo Karlovic – 40/1 at Bet365

Incidentally, who is the current holder of the Qatar Open title? Any guesses? It is Britain’s very own Andy Murray, who has won the tournament twice in a row. He is not back to defend the title though, as he is opting for the Hopman Cup as his preparations for the Australian Open. Murray, who has courted some opposition for his decision to pull out of Britain’s Davies Cup team for their next match in March, decided to go and play in the team event in Perth. The tournament also involves a mixed doubles match, in which Britain starts against Kazakhstan. Murray will be teaming up with Laura Robson (who was the World Number One Junior in March last year), and Murray defended his decision to enter this tournament, as it will give him at least three definite matches in a round robin tournament.

Betting Advice:
With the start of the new season upon us, it is actually a good time to get some, what may be deemed as bankers, in. These types of tournaments are overly blessed with talent, and the cream of the crop are spread out over different tournaments at the moment. The toughest call will be between Nadal and Federer at the Qatar open, but it seemed to be a good idea to back Federer on the hard court. Add to that Kim Clijsters and Andy Roddick from the WTA in Brisbane, and Robin Soderling from Chennai, then you have yourself a fairly strong Yankee or Accumulator.

Looking for Some Andy Murray Specials? Here you go, over at Coral (who offer 10% cashback on accumulated losses for the month!) has an excellent selection.
To win the Australian Open 2010 – 9/2
To win the French Open 2010 – 12/1
To win Wimbledon 2010 – 4/1
To win the US Open 2010 – 7/2