World No. 10 Roger Federer’s tennis betting odds entering 2017 were not looking very good. The 35 year old missed the latter half of 2016 – including the Summer Olympics as well as the French Open, ending his record of 65 consecutive Grand Slam appearances – with a knee injury. Furthermore, the 2016 season marked the first time that Federer dropped out of the ATP Top 10 since 2002, and the first time since 2000 that the Swiss did not win a title. That’s all water under the fridge, though; if the start of 2017 is anything to go by, Federer’s offshore online gambling stock is bound to go through the roof.
Federer returned to action at the 2017 Hopman Cup, where he made his first appearance since 2002. Switzerland finished 2nd in group A and thus did not qualify to the final, but this was just really a warm up for Federer. The Australian Open was the Swiss’s first Grand Slam of the year. Federer defeated Jürgen Melzer 7–5, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2 in the first round, Noah Rubin 7–5, 6–3, 7–6 in the second, Tomáš Berdych 6–2, 6–4, 6–4 in the third, Kei Nishikori 6–7, 6–4, 6–1, 4–6, 6–3 in the fourth, Mischa Zverev 6–1, 7–5, 6–2 in the quarterfinal, Stan Wawrinka 7–5, 6–3, 1–6, 4–6, 6–3 in the semis, and finally beat longtime rival Rafael Nadal 6–4, 3–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–3 in the final. It was his first win over Nadal in a Grand Slam match since the 2007 Wimbledon final.
With this win, Federer did more than just upset Nadal – whom the sports betting odds favored. In addition to that he won his 5th Australian Open and 18th Grand Slam, breaking his own record for most Grand Slam singles titles for a male tennis player. Moreover, the Swiss became the first man to win at least five singles titles at three different major tournaments each. All of which not only propels him back in to the top 10, but bolsters his tennis betting odds cred.
What does the future hold for Federer? The Swiss will continue to walk hard – or on hard surfaces, if you will. He is slated to participate in the Dubai Tennis Championships (27th February 2017-4th March 2017), the Indian Wells Masters (7th March 2017-20th March 2017), and the Miami Open (27th March 2017-2nd April 2017) as part of the ATP World Tour 500 series (Dubai) and the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (Indian Wells and Miami). The real story here, though, is the fact alone that, after having been pretty much written off by offshore online gambling experts, Federer has a future at all. And it is a bright future too, filled with tennis betting odds with minus signs in front of them. Unless the Australian Open was his swan song, which is always possible.