Sometimes tennis betting affords fans a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity, such as being able to watch World No. 1 Novak Djokovic face off against wunderkind Borna Coric – also known as “mini-Djokovic.” According to AP, top-seeded Djokovic will make his Madrid Open (aka Madrid Masters) debut on Wednesday against either clay Nicolas Almagro – which means his pretty good playing in clay courts and sadly not that he is a shape-shifter – or 19-year-old Croatian Coric. I’m keeping my fingers and my toes crossed that it will be the latter, just to see what happens if Djokovic beats himself.
Now some people may be against this match-up under the impression that the same matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Physically this is true; for instance, the atoms in Djokovic’s body and Coric’s body would occupy the space next to each other, and more importantly, would not melt into a revolting mass of gelatinous goo.
Furthermore, they would be standing in opposite sides of the court. And finally, they’re not time-traveling versions of each other – they don’t even look anything alike; Coric just happens to have a playing style similar to that of Djokovic. That alone, however, would make it an interesting match for people who bet on tennis as well as for other fans.
In his capacity as number 1 in the world – as mentioned above – Djokovic is the de facto tennis betting odds-on favorite whenever and wherever he plays – as long as it’s a tennis court; I’m afraid he wouldn’t fare too well in say, a bowling alley. That status has been reinforced in this particular occasion as a result of Roger Federer’s withdrawal from the Madrid Open due to a back injury. Notwithstanding that, there are still Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray to deal with.
The latter will play Radek Stepanek later Tuesday, while the former beat Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to win his 11th consecutive match this year and advance to the third round of the tournament that he has won twice in the last three seasons.
As for Coric, the right-handed (two-handed backhand) Croatian is currently the youngest player in the top 40 of the world rankings at number 33. In January of this year he was named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 sports list. This season he reached his first ATP final, losing to Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets. At the 2016 Australian Open, he fell in the first round to Albert Ramos-Viñolas in straight sets. In March, he played for Croatia in a Davis Cup tie against Belgium. He lost in five sets to David Goffin, but won the deciding point by defeating Kimmer Coppejans.