Novak Djokovic has won four of the last five grand slam events, including the US Open in 2015. The world’s No. 1 ranked player will try to defend his title in this year’s event in New York City.
US Open 2016 odds: Djokovic and Murray lead tournament betting lines at the sportsbooks
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray enter the US Open as big favorites over the rest of the field as the final major of the season gets underway.
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Djokovic is an even-money favorite to win this year’s US Open at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Djokovic won’t be at 100% in this tournament as he is nursing a wrist injury, but he plans to play through it in search of his third career US Open title.
The wrist injury may have contributed to Djokovic’s first-round exit in the Olympics as the favorite to win gold fell in straight sets to Juan Martin del Potro. Djokovic also had a disappointing finish in the third round at Wimbledon this season, but he recently attributed that performance to personal issues that have since been resolved.
The beneficiary of both of those Djokovic slip-ups was Andy Murray, who is going off at +180 to win the US Open on the tennis betting lines. Murray picked up the third major title of his career at Wimbledon this season, and followed that up with a gold medal performance in Rio this month.
Murray has clearly emerged as the No. 2 tennis player in the world today, and he figures to be Djokovic’s biggest threat in a title defense.
Del Potro (+1600 to win the US Open) won the only grand slam title of his career at the US Open back in 2009. The Argentinian played some sensational tennis en route to a silver medal in the Olympics, falling just short of a dream run after losing to Murray in the gold medal game
If del Porto can bring that level of play to the US Open, he could provide some good value as a long shot after defeating Djokovic and Rafael Nadal and pushing Murray to four sets in a match that lasted for over four hours.
Other potential contenders on the odds to win the US Open include Milos Raonic (+1200), Stan Wawrinka (+1600), Marin Cilic (+2000), Rafael Nadal (+2000), and Kei Nishikori (+2500).
Five-time US Open winner Roger Federer will miss this event for the first time since 1999, setting his sights on a healthy return in 2017.
