London, UK -- (SBWire) -- 01/27/2012 --As the Australian Open reaches a climax Sporting Index traders are preparing for a busy weekend ahead of the first Grand Slam final of 2012. Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray in straight sets in 2011 and the Serbian looks on course to start the year with a bang and he’s favourite on the outright tournament index (Winner: 60 points, Runner-up: 40 points, Lose Semi-Final: 20 points, Lose Quarter-Final: 10 points).

Sporting Index also allows punters to bet higher or lower on total games in a match, so if a contest is decided 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 the market makes up 18. On the other hand, a 7-6, 6-7, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 marathon would make up 58 games. In the past two years the Australian Open men’s final has been decided in three sets, with the total games reaching 27 in 2011 and 32 the year before.

Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer’s epic five-set battle in 2009 proved a fantastic final for buyers of Sporting Index’s X-Courts (Number of Player 1’s games multiplied by Player 2’s games in each set then added together) spread market. The sum of the total games market for Nadal’s victory over the Swiss Maestro accumulated an impressive 51 games with X-Courts making up a massive 125. Interestingly, that five-set final was the first that went the distance since Mats Wilander and Pat Cash’s contest all the way back in 1988. Since that Wilander/Cash contest, there have been 23 finals and 12 of those have needed four sets to crown the Aussie champion.

“The Australian Open has often thrown up some memorable finals down the years with the players looking to start the year as they mean to go on,” comments Sporting Index spokesman Wayne Lincoln. “Men’s tennis is in excellent health as we start another Grand Slam season and it remains to be seen if anyone can stop Novak Djokovic following his remarkable 2011.”

Australian Open Outright – Sporting Index Markets

Novak Djokovic 40-43
Roger Federer 35-38
Rafa Nadal 30-33
Andy Murray 27-30
David Ferrer 11-13
Kei Nishikori 10.5-12.5

Prices as of 24th January

About the Sporting Index Group

The Sporting Index Group is best known as the world’s largest sports spread betting business, offering the widest range of markets and taking some of the largest bets on sporting events around the world. Markets include rugby spread betting, cricket spread betting and tennis spread betting.

The Group has 180 staff, all based at its London HQ. It is privately owned and is the undisputed world leader in sports spread betting, dominating the global market with an estimated 80%+ market share. Today it makes thousands of markets on upwards of 500 events every week, offering the sports fan the opportunity to bet on a wide variety of sports, political and showbiz events, as well as on a portfolio of unique virtual games. Clients transact via its websites, award winning mobile phone applications, and a 24/7 voice telephony service. Sporting Index’s B2C business continues to grow in the face of a fiercely competitive online betting market.

At the heart of the business is a world class trading, modelling and liability management capability that is widely acknowledged as amongst the best in the global betting market. The Group combines the latest technology with unrivalled trader expertise to service its core sports spread betting clients as well as an increasing number of wholesale customers who rely on the company’s fixed-odds in-play pricing data to underpin their own sportsbook operations via the Sporting Solutions brand. This has quickly established itself as a leading data provider with a number of flagship betting brands signed up.

Sporting Index is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Services Authority and the Gambling Commission.