Betting The Australian Open Final: Djokovic Faces Medvedev

• The finals for the 2021 Men’s Australian Open are now set, with eight-time winner Novak Djokovic a -115 favorite over Daniil Medvedev, who is available for -105 betting odds.
• On the women’s side, Naomi Osaka enters the finals as a massive -500 betting favorite over American Jennifer Brady, who sits at +375 to win her first grand slam.

MELBOURNE, Australia – The finals for the Australian Open are officially set, and bettors are eyeing which of the final competitors will be the one to raise the trophy down under this weekend.

There are a few familiar faces left standing in the Aussie Open, with perennial dominator Novak Djokovic storming his way to the finals in pursuit of his ninth AO title.

He faces young Russian sensation Daniil Medvedev, who is looking to cause problems for the stoic Djokovic following his swift disposal of Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinal.

Those looking to bet on the finals will find Djokovic as the favorite- but surprisingly not by much. Major online sportsbooks currently only have Djokovic as a -115 favorite over Medvedev, despite Novak’s extraordinary track record at the Australian Open.

Novak Djokovic comes in as the number one player in the world for a consecutive 122 weeks, becoming just the second player in tennis history to total over 300 weeks at number one in their career.

He is an eight-time Australian Open champion, looking for his third consecutive win at the Grand Slam. No player has been as dominant at a single tournament year after year as Djokovic has been at the Aussie Open.

While Djokovic has taken down the best of the best over his career, he now faces a new challenge in 25-year-old Russian Daniil Medvedev.

Currently ranked No. 4 in the world, Medvedev burst onto the scene in 2018, winning the most hardcourt matches of any tennis player in that calendar year. He solidified his potion as a contender when he reached the US Open final in 2019, losing to Rafael Nadal.

Since the pandemic, Medvedev has grown back up to form and put that on display this Australian Open. Medvedev easily handled fellow countryman Andrei Rublev in the quarterfinals before dispatching Greek hopeful Tsitsipas in the semis.

He now enters the final against Djokovic with a strong amount of confidence.

Both competitors are red-hot heading into the final, with convincing wins over decent competition on their path thus far. While Medvedev was busy disposing of Tsitsipas in straight sets, Djokovic took down Russian Aslan Karatsev in a similar destructive fashion.

This will be the eighth meeting between the two, with Djokovic holding just a slight lead 4-3 in all-time ATP matches. Djokovic won their first three meetings after 2017, but Medvedev has beaten Novak in three of their last four meetings, including in the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals Great Britain.

While Medvedev is on a 20 match win streak and has nearly eight years of youth on the 33-year old Djokovic, the legendary Serbian is not intimidated by the new generation of tennis stars.

“Certainly they will be the leaders of the future of tennis, without a doubt, but I’m not going to stand here and hand it over to them. I’m going to make them work their a** off for it,” said Djokovic to Eurosport after his semifinal match.

“With all my respect about the other guys, they still have a lot of work to do.”

While that situation plays out for the men, the women have their own final to worry about with Naomi Osaka taking on American Jen Brady as the huge favorite.

Many called the semifinal match between Osaka and Serena Williams the de facto final for the Aussie Open, but Jen Brady still poses a real threat to the foremost Osaka.

Both matches will begin at 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time in the States, so anyone looking to bet on the Grand Slam finals should go ahead and set their alarm clock now.