Australian Open Special Tip:

The ‘Big Four’ in the men’s game - Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray - are so far ahead of the rest that betting on them to all make it to the semi-finals of the Australian Open at best odds of 15/4 (PaddyPower) looks like a bit of a no-brainer.

These same top four seeds did comprise the semi-finals in 2011 at the French Open on clay and on the hard courts of the US Open at Flushing Meadows. So in two out of the four Grand Slams last year this would have been a winning bet. But it could very easily have been a clean sweep. In Australia only Nadal missed out, after an apparent hamstring injury scuppered him in the last eight. At Wimbledon, the quartet was only denied by Federer losing in 5-sets to Tsonga in the quarter-finals.

Nothing has really changed to suggest this pattern of domination is about to end. If anything Federer has gone up a gear since the autumn and Murray is hoping new coach Lendl will turn him into a major champion. Djokovic has a long way to fall before we should question him, while Nadal is the only slight concern due to fitness.

But if the biggest worry is the 10-time Slam winner and world number two who has reached the last three major finals, it’s looking like a great bet!