Although Andy Murray is a man who has promised plenty and yet failed to deliver every time he has really had the opportunity to show that he can be a top player, this year could be the final one during which he is
forced to start the season having to rebuff the criticism that he has received for failing to deliver on the Grand Slam stage.

With Laura Robson beginning to emerge as a real contender in women’s tennis, and starting to appear to be a far easier person for fans to get behind and support in the big events, Murray needs to start showing the British public that he is a man who is not only worth supporting avidly, but one worth admiring as well.

Despite starting the season without any extra advertising on his Adidas kit, and at only number four in the current rankings, Murray is still a hot prospect in tennis and the best odds on odds comparison sites show that he is considered widely to be a real contender for the year's first Grand Slam, the Australian Open. However, should Murray start the year slowly and fail to reach at least the semi-finals of the event, he will start to come under increasing amounts of pressure from both the media and the tennis world at large.

Should Murray start the season by breaking his duck and picking up his first Grand Slam event, then maybe, just maybe, the young Scot can start to play tennis without having to carry the hopes and expectations of Britain’s loyal tennis fans on his shoulders to quite as large an extent as he has been doing. If he can do that, then 2011 could well be the year Murray really ends the Federer/ Nadal dominance of men’s tennis for good.

Andy Murray is eyeing up his maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, but admits the usual dominant duo are standing in his way in 2011 yet again.

The Scot enjoyed a remarkable run at Melbourne Park 12 months ago, making it all the way to the final only to be beaten by Roger Federer and the Australian Open tennis betting suggests a repeat of this could be on the cards.

Murray continues to hunt for an elusive first Grand Slam title and is hoping to repeat his Australian Open heroics of 2010. He began his preparations by teaming up with Laura Robson in the mixed-team Hopman Cup event - where they were defeated by the Italians in their first match despite Murray beating Potito Starace.

The world number four claims his performance in the ATP World Tour finals in December, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals before taking a break over winter, has given him new-found confidence going into 2011.

Murray reckons he will have to work on his serve if he wants success, but takes pride from the fact he has shown he can compete with Federer and Nadal from the baseline. However, the Scot admits those two will pose him the most threat in the Australian Open.

"Last year's Australian Open was one of the best events I've played in my life," Murray said.

"I played some of my best tennis so I'll have to play even better if I want to win because Rafa and Roger are playing so well just now."

The Australian Open tennis tips suggest the usual players will dominate, and Murray will have to find something special if he is to claim the title.

American star Andy Roddick is one star looking impressive in the early weeks of 2011 as he continues his Australian Open preparations. He has looked outstanding in the Brisbane International and could be a real force at Melbourne Park.

Robin Soderling is in confident mood looking ahead to the Australian Open after his impressive performances in Brisbane.

The Swede won his seventh career title at the Brisbane International tournament, beating American Andy Roddick 6-3 7-5 in the final. 

He was impressive throughout the competition and won the final without facing a break point in the entire game, with that win pushing him ahead of Andy Murray into number four on the world rankings. However, the Australian Open tennis tips suggest the Scotsman should fare better in the first Slam of the year.

Soderling has never really excelled at the Australian Open, making it as far as the second round in 2004 and 2009, but is confident he can improve on this record later in January as he bids for his first Grand Slam success, even if the Australian Open betting predictions suggest he is in for a tough time.

The excellent form and improved seeding should give the 26-year-old a great chance of challenging the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for the Australian Open title.

Soderling has admitted he is taking a week off to rest before the Australian Open starts on January 17th in order to be fresh for the big tournament.

"I'm playing really well and it makes me really happy," the champion told the ATP website. 

"I've never really played well in Australia before and now finally I won a tournament playing really good tennis. It gives me a lot of confidence for Melbourne."

While Soderling is going into the competition in great form so it four-time Australian Open winner, and defending champion, Federer. 

The world number two convincingly beat Nikolay Davydenko in the final to win the Qatar Open and admitted it was a "good preparation" for the forthcoming first Grand Slam of the season.

Caroline Wozniacki looks to be finding it hard to switch back into work mode, following the festive period. The world number one’s preparations for next week's Australian Open, have been far from ideal and they took another hit when Wozniacki was sent packing from the Medibank International in Sydney. Anyone looking to bet on Australian Open tennis should take note of the result.

The Dane was beaten in straight sets by Dominika Cibulkova, 6-3, 6-3 and cut Wozniacki's tournament short in only first match after being given a bye to the second round. The start to Wozniacki's season hasn't been anything like she would have hoped and the 20-year-old has already suffered exhibition match defeats against Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters and the Australian Open 2011 betting suggests she could struggle.
The defeat to Cibulkova came in Wozniacki's first competitive match of 2011 and isn't the start to the year she would have wanted.  The youngster is refusing to panic ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year though, despite her poor recent form.

"At the start of the new season you always need to get into the match play. I didn't feel that I was playing great tennis out there. But I'm confident that for Melbourne I'll be ok," she said.

Despite her status as world number one, Wozniacki can't class herself among the true elite of the sport until she picks up her first major title. Success in Melbourne next week would be the perfect start to the season and would give Wozniacki confidence to push on after such an exciting 2010.

Can Rafael Nadal win the Grand Slam in 2011? It is a realistic target, amazingly so considering perhaps the greatest of all time is in direct competition and still claiming major titles himself. Indeed, if anyone stops Nadal from emulating Rod Laver's clean sweep of 1969, it will be Roger Federer and the tennis betting odds reflect this.

Australian Open - Roger Federer

Federer is in better form than anybody, winning the Qatar Open a couple of months after storming to the World Tour finals title in London. His fourth Australian title last year was his most emphatic victory and he can stretch his lead in the major victories list despite the presence of a fit Nadal, who was in no position to defend his title last year.

French Open - Rafael Nadal

The king of clay has lost only one match at Roland Garros in the last six years and it would be a major surprise if he did not equal Bjorn Borg’s record Paris tally of six titles in the open era.

Wimbledon - Rafael Nadal

Andy Murray performed well at Wimbledon last year and the Scot is the man most likely to break the Nadal-Federer monopoly of majors in 2011, but no one, including Federer, will be able to live with world number one if he repeats the form he showed in cruising to his second victory at SW19 last summer. 

US Open - Roger Federer

Federer's shock Flushing Meadows defeats by Juan Martin del Potro and Novak Djokovic in the last two years can be shown to be an anomaly by a player who once ruled in New York with five straight wins. Federer and Nadal have surprisingly never won two majors apiece in one season, but they can do so in 2011, perhaps their last year of joint domination in the sport.

In the top 20 of the men's rankings 2010 was a long-awaited breakthrough year for Tomas Berdych and an even more belated year of improvement for Jurgen Melzer, Ivan Ljubicic and Mardy Fish. Viktor Troicki also made big strides last season and it is he and Berdych, the players with time on their side, who are more likely to win a major.

Who will improve further down the rankings list in 2011? Grigor Dimitrov has been given the millstone of 'the next Roger Federer', the Bulgarian's stylish strokes seemingly enough for some observers to heap unfair pressure on a developing player. Although no one would put a tennis bet on him winning a Slam, he has plenty of potential and should make steady progress inside the top 100 in the coming year.

Two Ukrainians slipped into the top 50 last year and both have the attributes to enter the top 30. Sergiy Stakhovsky is, at the age of 25, perhaps running out of time to make the big impression, but he produced his best slam performance at the 2010 US Open and has continued his good form into the New Year, reaching the quarter finals of the Medibank international.

Alexandr Dolgopolov also reached the last eight in Sydney, impressively beating top seed Sam Querrey along the way. He is 22-years-old and has the right mental attributes to develop rapidly this season.
Further up the rankings list the explosive Ernests Gulbis should be closely followed, who should soon produce a breakthrough performance at a slam. Stanislas Wawrinka has arguably already done that, dumping Andy Murray of last year's US Open on the way to his first slam quarter final. He has started 2011 in good form, winning in Chennai and is certainly one to keep an eye on this season.