Australia Open 2022, 1st Round, Monday, 17.01.2022
Who would have thought that the Australian Open 2022 would captivate us long before the first ball change? The first Grand Slam tournament of the new year already caused a lot of drama in the run-up.
Only on the court would Alexander Zverev like to make headlines as he strives for his first Major title. His AO will start with a duel against his compatriot Daniel Altmaier. Will he be able to start without any problems? In my Zverev Altmaier tip, I take a look at the very clear odds.
2008, 2011 to 2013, 2015 and 2016 as well as 2019 to 2021 – before we look at the German duel in Round 1, we cannot avoid taking a brief general look at the Australian Open, which starts on Monday.
In the meantime, it has been decided: Novak Djokovic will not be allowed to start! The vaccination discussion about the world number one is over, the nine-time champion is not allowed to start in Down Under.
A new question is already being asked: Who will win now that Djoker is not allowed to play? The bookmakers have Daniil Medvedev in the lead, but Alexander Zverev is already right behind him.
The Olympic champion finally wants to win his first Grand Slam tournament. He still has the burden of never having won against an opponent from the top 10 at any of the four majors.
His year 2021, the most successful ever, ended with a triumph at the finals in Turin. No question, 2022 must see a GS victory. In the first week of January, he competed in the ATP Cup and showed light and shade there.
He lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime in three sets, only 64% of the first serve got through. Unusual, because this is actually where his great strength lies. The 6-4, 6-4 win over Taylor Fritz was a little better.
85%? Cameron Norrie had the least to offer Zverev at 7-6, 6-1. Good, but not yet as perfect as in 2021, that’s the best way to describe his beginnings in the new year.
Last year, Zverev was eliminated in the quarter-finals after four tough sets. His opponent: Novak Djokovic, so that can’t happen to him now. In 2020, he was defeated in the semi-finals by Dominic Thiem, who is not competing this time either.
This semifinal is also his biggest success in Melbourne so far. I probably don’t need to mention that he is the heavy favourite in his first round, some of the odds at the German bookmakers only make it to 1.01.
His opponent, Daniel Altmaier, of course knows that nobody is expecting him. It is the first time ever that the 23-year-old is competing in the main draw of the Australian Open. Last year, he had to skip the qualifying after a positive Corona test.
For a few weeks now, he has been ranked in the top 100, 91st to be precise. This means he can save himself the strenuous qualifying. The fact that he holds the best ranking of his career is thanks to a sensational end to 2021.
At the Challenger in Puerto Vallarta, he had secured the title at the end of November. In Adelaide, he started his preparation after the turn of the year, narrowly losing 2-6, 6-3, 6-7 to Thiago Monteiro. A short time later in Sydney, he survived the qualification, but then failed just as early.
Having lost 3-6, 5-7 against Fabio Fognini, however, he is allowed to lose once. He collected 75% on his first serve, with these odds he could also be dangerous for Alexander Zverev. Speaking of odds, Altmaier gets a high 23.00 at Betway on Monday!
Alexander Zverev alone will probably decide when he closes the match against Daniel Altmaier. The world No. 3 is, together with Medvedev, the very big favourites for the title Down Under.
At the ATP Cup, the Olympic champion showed both strong moments and moments in need of improvement. Will he manage to build pressure from the 1st round like he did in 2021? His fans still know too well that he can be good for slip-ups at the beginning.
Daniel Altmaier can play completely free on his AO debut, recently Fabio Fognini also had to fight against the 23-year-old German.
My tip therefore: We see more than 27.5 Games.
