Novak Djokovic v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Winner Odds & Predictions

Tennis Betting

Australian Open 2019 Preview – January 17th, 2019 at 1.30 am

Novak Djokovic started his 2019 Australian Open campaign with an easy opening victory over America’s Mitchell Krueger. It was pretty much everything as expected from the former Melbourne Park champion, dropping only the seven games along the way. Next up for him is the seasoned campaigner that is Jo Wilfried Tsonga.

Novak Djokovic v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga odds*

Novak Djokovic 1/12
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7/1
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 15th, 2019 at 8:45 pm)

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So there were no scares at all for Djokovic is his first round match. That was Djokovic’s thirteenth straight first-round victories. He now steps out next against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the man he met in the 2008 Final, which Djokovic won. It is pretty ridiculous to think that that match was now eleven years ago. Djokovic is the man to beat at the tournament, despite it being Roger Federer who is defending his title.

Djokovic was never really going to be challenged by qualifier Kruger at all. But this next match is a lot more interesting. Tsonga is down at 177th in the world and really wasn’t seen at all last year because of having had knee surgery. The 33-year-old is back though and this will be his first appearance in a grand slam for twelve months.

Tsonga took out Matin Klizan in three straight sets in his first-round match. All three of them were close sets but it’s hard to knock Tsonga at all. That was as big of a test of his fitness as it will have been his mental approach. He admitted that during his layoff that he had considered his future in the sport really.

The two do have plenty of history between them as Djokovic leads the head to head 16-6. The last time they met was in Grand Slam action, Tsonga retiring from the encounter in their quarterfinal match after the second set. That is a three-match run of wins for Djokovic over the Frenchman now.

After Djokovic had won that 2008 final at the Australian Open against Tsonga, their other meeting at the tournament happened in 2010. That was an epic clash over five sets with Tsonga coming out on top.

Prediction

We don’t see anything other than a win for Djokovic in this one. Tsonga has a long way to go to get back to match fitness after such a long absence from the game. He did well to get through that first round encounter but will likely struggle to get anything out of Djokovic. A Djokovic 3-0 win in set betting is at 8/13 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 15th, 2019 at 8:45 pm)