Roger Federer's and Rafael Nadal's Betting Odds Drift for 2012 Australian Open

Both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have seen their betting odds lengthened recently in the outright winner's market for the 2012 Australian Open.

On Christmas Day the betting odds for the men's singles title in Melbourne Park saw Federer best-priced at +300 (3/1) with Blue Square (all odds taken from the sportsbooks listed at oddschecker.com). Now his longest odds are +400 (4/1) with more than one sportsbook, including both Blue Square and Stan James.

Federer's lengthening odds appear to be due to the recent result in Abu Dhabi—an exhibition tournament that saw Novak Djokovic defeat Federer handily.

Nadal was best-priced with Bodog on Christmas Day at +500 (5/1) to win next month's Australian Open. However, the Spaniard appears to have lost some favor with tennis punters following his weak performance against David Ferrer, another match that took place in Abu Dhabi recently.

Nadal is now best-priced at +650 (13/2) with Bwin and certainly his shoulder problem will keep some of his backers out of the market.

Djokovic is gaining momentum as the favorite once again as the world No. 1 is now priced at +175 (7/4) with bet365. On Christmas Day his best price was with +250 (5/2) with Victor Chandler.