Regular gamblers know that the US Tennis Open is an excellent vehicle for shrewd tennis punters. So who’s going to win the last of the season’s four major tennis championships and – if we can’t answer that one – where does the real value lie?

Well it’s pretty tough to look beyond Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, obviously. The Djoker has done little wrong this season – even putting on a dogged performance in the final of the French Openat Roland Garros against nine-time winner Rafa Nadal. As it stands, Djokovic is the bookmakers’ 7/4 favourite to regain the title he won in 2011 (the only time he has won the US Open – though he has been runner-up four times, including last year).

Nadal, of course, won last year at Flushing Meadows beating Djokovic 3-1 in the final and won’t have been happy about being knocked off the world number one spot by Djokovic courtesy of the Serb’s Wimbledon win. He’ll be determined to repeat his success of last year and is currently second favourite to do just that at around 3/1.

Then there’s beaten finalist the resurgent Roger Federer – a 7/1 shot for Flushing Meadows. Federer may well be the greatest player of all time, but he’s also the oldest of the big four at 32, and his power may be waning. Then again – his performance in the Wimbledon final and his narrow loss to Djokovic wasn’t exactly that of a player past his prime. And he, too, has done little wrong during 2014. But he also knows his time is running out and you can bet he’ll be more determined than ever to add one last major to his tally of a record-breaking 18. Federer last won the US Open back in 2008 (his fifth in a row).

All this brings us nicely to the man for whom things aren’t going quite so smoothly this year; Scotland’s Andy Murray. Murray, you may remember, won the US Open at Flushing Meadows two years ago, and Wimbledon last year. But his back injury and operation almost a year ago seems to have taken its toll and he hasn’t yet managed to reach his previous giddy heights .Wimbledon is the big one for Murray – but he was convincingly beaten by the 23 year-old Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the quarter-final (though Murray had looked very impressive up to that point it has to be said).

Nevertheless, the 27 year-old Scot is the bookmakers’ third favourite at around 11/2 to win the US Open for a second time. And again – you can bet he’ll be utterly determined to do just that to show he really is back.

Then again – perhaps it’s time for someone to end the dominance of the big four? And perhaps Dimitrov himself is the man to do this? He’s on his way up, he’s fearless, he’s dating Maria Sharapova which won’t do his determination any harm and he’s an interesting 17/1 shot. And he surely represents the value bet here as someone will inevitably break into the “big four” soon?

This article is provided by Orignative Blog.