I haven't watched too much of the lead up tourneys, but a few players have stood out to me so far.

1) Lleyton Hewitt

In short, he's playing better right now than he has in a long time. I watched a lot of his run in Brisbane and the match against Murray tonight, and he's making some really outstanding shots. His path is unfortunately, a rough one, in the same bracket as Delpo and Nadal, but he should be able to win his first three matches, likely facing Seppi/Haase/Nishikori and then get a shot at Nadal.

2) Gael Monfils

Again, his draw is awful. He should steamroll Harrison and Sock/Kamke, but then has to face Nadal. He's 100% healthy and looked very impressive in his first three matches in Doha before losing to Nadal in the Final. A second meeting with Rafa so soon could be a positive situation for him. He'll have a tough time winning, but there could be some line value.

3) Stan Wawrinka

I think Stan is going to have a breakout year in 2014. He barely broke a sweat on his way to winning in Chennai, and I think his success last season has really spurred him to make a push this year. His draw is quite manageable until the QF when he'll have to face Djokovic. Last year at the AO, Stan played the match of his life against Novak pushing him the distance. It was definitely one of the most entertaining matches I've ever seen, and something to keep in mind for when Novak is steamrolling his competition in the early rounds this year. Match Highlights

4) Andy Murray

He's not up to speed yet. He got bounced from Doha by Mayer in the second round and then played an exhibition match against Hewitt tonight, in which he looked very solid on serve, but quite lacking otherwise. He's got a pretty soft draw, ending with matchups against the winners of Isner/Kohlscreiber and then Tsonga/Federer in the QF. I think he looks vulnerable right now and has a ways to go to get himself up to speed. I won't be shocked if he gets knocked out relatively early.

5) David Ferrer

Similar to Murray, he's not in great form right now, even before his loss tonight to Y.H. Lu in the Auckland SF. His draw is more dangerous, littered with guys that while not great, could upset him on a good day (Chardy, Janowicz, Mayer, Berdych).

6) Tsvetana Pironkova

As I write this, she's playing in the Sydney Final against Kerber, so she's not exactly a secret. However if you haven't seen her play, she's striking the ball extremely well right now and looking very confident. Her path leads to Ivanovic in R3, and I think that if she can overcome the fatigue from playing these big matches in Sydney, she could very well beat Ana. If that was to happen, she would matchup against Serena and her AO will be over. It's mostly the potential Ivanovic matchup I would be eyeing. I could also see her go out in the first round if she can't recover quickly enough. She's definitely played a lot of long rallies in the last few days.

7) Li Na

She steamrolled most of her opponents at Shenzen before making her way to Australia for the AO in good time to prepare. 2013 saw her change up her coach and the results were almost immediately noticeable in her performance. I don't see anything stopping her from winning her quarter, with her likely having to face Makarova & Kerber in R4/QF. Unfortunately, Serena will be waiting in the SF and she likely won't go any further.


Not a comprehensive list by any means. I know I haven't seen enough players in matches yet to have a good grasp of who's starting the year off well or poorly. I'd be interested to hear who has stood out so far in 2014 for better or worse.

Lines for R1 are just starting to come out though, and the first few rounds of Grand Slam events are among my favourite events to bet all year across all sports. Getting stoked.