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No, A Top 5 Player Will Not Win The Australian Open

The Australian Open is only a few weeks away. We’ve all pretty much given the title to Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, or Roger Federer by now. I for one haven’t. I’ve been watching the tournaments that are currently going on and I’m really starting to think there could be another player in the mix when things start to heat up in Melbourne.

You might think I’m going to mention Andy Murray or even David Ferrer, but I just don’t see either one of them winning it all. Murray has struggled mightily in Brisbane, needing to go the distance to get by Gilles Muller and Mikhail Kukushkin, dropping the first set in both contests.

Scotland will have to wait a little while longer for a Grand Slam champion if Murray doesn’t solve his early match woes soon. David Ferrer decided not to take part in this week’s Australian Open warm up tournaments, but I bet we’ll see him in action next week in Aukland.

The player I’m looking to really excel Down Under is Tomas Berdych. The talented Czech recently defeated top American Mardy Fish in straight sets at the Hopman Cup.

He also had a nice showing at the year-end finals event, downing David Ferrer and Janko Tipsarevic before losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Berdych plays very well from the baseline and while the courts in Australia aren’t the fastest in the world, he’ll definitely enjoy the moderate pace.

With wins over Roger Federer, Tsonga, Fish, and Fernando Verdasco in 2011, Berdych is a guy who can beat anyone, but at times will play down to the competition. If he can get through the first week without a letdown, I look for him to really make an impact in the second week.

Your thoughts?

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