The men’s singles competition at the Tokyo Olympics gets underway on Saturday.
Despite some high-profile withdrawals (such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal), there are still a few stars who will be looking to earn glory for their respective countries.
Defending champion Andy Murray, who also won gold in London in 2012, is bidding for an improbable three-peat here at 66/1, although he faces an extremely tough first-round match against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Betfred TV spoke to Barry Cowan about Murray’s chances, which you can listen to below.
However, all eyes will be on the 4/7 favourite Novak Djokovic as he tries to complete the calendar year ‘Golden Slam’.
He’s already won the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, and if he wins gold this summer, you’d fancy him to finish the job at Flushing Meadows.
That would make Djokovic (below) the first player in 33 years to win the calendar ‘Golden Slam’. That feat has only ever been achieved once in the history of tennis – by Steffi Graf in 1988.
So the Serbian is firmly a man on a mission in Tokyo in a bid to win his maiden gold medal.
If all goes to plan, Daniil Medvedev (9/2) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (7/1) are on course to meet for what would be an intriguing semi-final showdown. but neither man will be looking ahead too soon.
Alexander Zverev is a potential dark horse at 10s. Despite a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon, the world No. 5 has won titles in Acapulco and Madrid this year, and also made the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and the semi-finals at Roland Garros.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz opens his campaign against Marton Fucsovics. Hurkacz ended a six-match losing streak at SW19, where he also beat a certain Roger Federer in straight sets to make the final four for the first time in a Slam.
Earlier in the year, Hubert won titles at Delray Beach and Miami, the latter of which was his first at a Masters 1000 tournament. Another potential dark horse at 33/1.
