Australian Open Preview

If you've had enough of watching depressing cricket telecasts from Australia, then perk up, it's Grand Slam time - the Australian Open from Melbourne.

The timezone might be tricky to deal with but the Rod Laver Arena has been home to some epic night sessions in recent years - perfect for some pre-lunch trading. Who can forget the five-hour marathon between Andy Roddick and Younes El Aynaoui back in 2003, with Roddick winning the quarter-final 21-19 in the final set? Or the last time Roger Federer was beaten in a Grand Slam away from clay, trumped by Marat Safin in the semi-finals in 2005, 9-7 in the fifth?

The ominous formline for Melbourne is that, ignoring his 'bogey surface' of clay and the French Open, Roger Federer has been beaten only twice in Grand Slams since he first won Wimbledon back in 2003. Give yourself a pat on the back if you recalled his other loss - to David Nalbandian in round 4 of the 2003 US Open. Can he be beaten? Probably not, he simply is on another level.

There won't be much value floating around in Federer's matches but rest assured there will be plenty of traders involved. Laying the champ at 1.01 in the hope to see 1.03 to back if the lowly-ranked opponent in R1 can fight boldly to reach a first set tie-break is a popular strategy. At 1.45 to win the title again before he'd even set foot in Australia, don't expect too many wild swings in his outright price unless he starts dropping sets on a regular basis. Andy Murray has hit the ground running in 2007 after a testing off-season in Florida. Given a draw devoid of the top pair of seeds in the first week, he has a good chance of going deep into the second week.

The contrast between the men's and women's tours is borne out in the winner markets. With the domination of Federer, only two other male players are on offer at less than 50 at the time of writing, yet in the women that figure is 11. Justine Henin-Hardenne won't be making the trip due to family issues, Maria Sharapova won the US Open and Amelie Mauresmo broke her big-time duck last year with titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Throw in Kim Clijsters in her farewell season, Serena Williams playing lead-up tournaments for the first time in years and exciting young talent such as Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Nicole Vaidisova and you have a wide-open tournament. For updated tournament news and previews, visit our new tennis home page.

With the Australian Open being televised on British Eurosport, it's worth reiterating the broadcast delay. Delays in TV pictures happen on every event - some are sub-second, others are much longer. Which network is televising the event and where it is being beamed from are just two of the factors involved. Eurosport is renowned for having a significant delay behind real time. Whilst you'll be competing on a level playing field against UK punters, other Betfair members watching other networks around the world will quite likely have access to faster pictures. Australians won't be able to capitalise on it being on terrestrial coverage though - local law forbids online betting in-running within Australia.

Test the speed of your TV feed. On a key point, how long does it take for the prices to move? You will need to allow for time to make your betting decision, then for the five-second in-play delay which applies to everyone. If the price you wanted to take is long gone by the time your bet would be processed, then you might need to adjust your strategy. You won't be able to 'snip' a price as soon as that winner is cracked down the line. Perhaps restrict your betting to between games. Try thinking a point ahead and let the market come to you.

Tennis is a unique sport in that events are played all over the world throughout the year and the broadcasting networks change regularly. It's not as consistent as racing on At The Races or Racing UK every day. Add to that the availability of online scoreboards and live streaming coverage, and you will have a vast range of punters betting on delays of anything up to a minute. There is nothing wrong with that, not everyone is trying to jump on a price when the ball hits the net. You just need to be aware of the market conditions as they affect you, and then plan around it.

This year Betfair will cover 35 tournaments from around the world via live streaming. Previously these broadcasts were available only to customers in the UK and Ireland, but this year we are excited to announce they will be available around the world as well, all with match commentary. There's more than just football and tennis on live streaming in 2007 - stay tuned for more announcements throughout the year.

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