Monfils +145

From TennisEarth.com thought id pass it along.

Former French No.1 Gael Monfils whose ATP rankings saw a deep plummeting after reaching a career high of No.4 will start his 2013 Australian Open campaign against the 20th ranked Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round of the Grand Slam event.

Currently ranked at 86th, Monfils is known for his court coverage and can be described as a good baseliner who makes proper use of placement and consistency to overcome his rivals. With greater capability of generating pace on his groundstrokes, the 26-year-old is better placed to win the first round encounter against the Ukrainian opponent though the two players have never met before in their professional career.

Although, Monfils missed a major portion of the 2012 due to a knee injury he suffered in May last year, the Frenchmen looked resurgent in his comeback tournament at Auckland last week where he was granted a wild card. Monfils made it to the semifinals beating Germany’s Tommy Haas before ultimately losing to the eventual champion David Ferrer in the last four.

On the other hand, though Dolgopolov is better ranked than Monfils and is himself an aggressive player with one of the best slices in the game, his form has never been of much consistency. The 24-year-old is also a good volleyer but tends to make a lot of unforced errors that undermines his overall game.

Overall, TennisEarth predicts an easy win for Monfils.