ATP 1000: Western & Southern Open Betting Preview: Can Djokovic Defend The Title?

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The 2021 Western & Southern Open is an upcoming ATP and WTA 1000 tennis tournament slated for August 14-22 at Lindner Family Tennis Center. The event will return to Cincinnati this year after the 2020 Western & Southern Open was played at Flushing Meadows from 22-28 August due to COVID-19.

The 2021 Western & Southern Open will serve as a warm-up tournament, leading to the US Open as the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year.

MyBookie brings you a full betting preview of the Western & Southern Open, where we provide you with all the information you’ll ever need to know when placing a bet on ATP Betting Odds.

2021 Western & Southern Open Preview & Predictions | ATP Betting

ATP 2021 Western & Southern Open

When: August 14-22
Where: Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio

Roger Federer Withdraws from 2021 Western & Southern Open

If you were looking to bet on Roger Federer to win his eighth Western & Southern Open title, you will, unfortunately, not be able to. The tournament organizers announced that the Swiss has withdrawn from the event due to a knee injury on Thursday, August 5.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion, Federer, would enter the 2021 Western & Southern Open as the winningest player at the tournament, where he has recorded a 47-10 record and has won seven titles across the last 15 years.

The Swiss tennis star won his first Western & Southern Open title in 2005, to which he added six more across the next ten years. That includes two successful title defenses in 2010 and 2015.

Federer came close to adding his eighth title in 2018, when he reached the finals, but lost to Novak Djokovic with 4-6, 4-6. In 2019, Federer made it to R3, where he lost to Andrey Rublev (3-6, 4-6). In 2020, the Swiss did not attend the tournament.

Six Former Champions In The Field

The 2021 Western & Southern Open field will feature six tennis players who had previously won the tournament. That includes two-time champions in Novak Djokovic (2018, 2020), Andy Murray (2008, 2011), as well as Daniil Medvedev (2019), Grigor Dimitrov (2017), Marin Cilic (2016), and Rafael Nadal (2013).

Out of that group of players, all eyes will be on Novak Djokovic, who travels to Ohio as the most successful tennis player of the year. He has already won the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon and is now chasing the Grand Slam at the US Open.

Despite his impressive form over the season, Djokovic did not deliver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where he finished fourth, after losing to Pablo Carreno Busta (4-6, 7-6, 3-6) in the bronze medal match.

Can Djokovic Go Back-To-Back?

Having already won the tournament in 2020, Novak Djokovic will now chase his second consecutive title at the 2021 Western & Southern Open – a feat that only four players before him managed to achieve during the Open Era: Mats Wilander (1983-1984), Michael Chang (1993-1994), Andre Agassi (1995-1996), Roger Federer (2009-2010, 2014-2015).

Djokovic definitely has the tools to do so, but since he is priced as the betting favorite, it is far less appealing to back him on the ATP outright markets. Instead, we like Daniil Medvedev, who has been in great form this season and has already won here before.

Medvedev has reached the finals of the 2021 Australian Open and quarter-finals of the 2021 French open. Although he has – like Djokovic – underperformed in Japan, Medvedev usually does well on hard courts.

He boasts an incredible 72.45% win rate on hard courts and is 16/3 on the season. What’s more, he tends to shift into a higher gear towards the end of the season, as seen across the last two years, when he failed to make it further than R4 in any of the first three Grand Slams but then delivered at the US Open (Finals in 2019 and Semi-finals in 2020).

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