A strong month of sport in the Middle East continues this week with the men’s event of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships occurring over the next seven days.
This ATP 500 features a stacked draw with defending champion Andrey Rublev lurking at the bottom of the draw, while World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and back-to-back title winner Daniil Medvedev are on track for a collision in the top half of the draw. Throw in Felix Auger-Aliassime, Karen Khachanov, Andy Murray, Hubert Hurkacz and Alexander Zverev, and we should have an excellent week of tennis on our hands.
We look at the best bets to make on the Dubai ATP 500 ahead of the first ball being served this Monday with odds from UK bookmaker William Hill.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: February 27th, 12:45 A.M. (GMT)
As is often the case when Novak Djokovic takes part in an ATP tournament, bookmakers have him the heavy favourite to win. The Serbian is a 1.80 favourite in Dubai with Daniil Medvedev well off the pace at 5.00 as the second favourite. Behind him, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov fill out the top five with odds of 10.00, 13.00 and 15.00 respectively. Last week’s finalist and former World No. 1 Andy Murray is an outside chance at 41.00.
Looking at the draw, there are a few tasty match-ups heading our way this week. Andy Murray and recent Marseilles winner Hubert Hurkacz will meet in the first round, with the winner likely moving onto a quarterfinal against Novak Djokovic. The returning Alexander Zverev will open against 2022 Dubai finalist Jiri Lehecka, while Andrey Rublev has his eyes on an all-Russian quarterfinal against compatriot Karen Khachanov.
As the odds indicate, Novak Djokovic is the strong favourite here and for good reason. He ploughed through all in front of him at the Australian Open and hasn’t played since then. With Djokovic likely to miss out on the upcoming American hardcourt swing, expect him to be hungry for another title here to maximise his court time ahead of the French Open in May 2023.
Those wanting a higher return would be best to back Daniil Medvedev, who’s the strongest chance of stopping Djokovic. The two will likely meet in a semifinal. Medvedev is currently on a 10-match winning streak having claimed the Rotterdam and Doha titles in consecutive weeks. This bet would not be without risk, however, as Medvedev has lost his last four matches against Djokovic, including six weeks ago in Adelaide 6-3, 6-4.
