It’s not uncommon to tighten your belt at the start of the year even though you’ve piled on plenty of weight by excessively overindulging during the 12 days of Christmas.
One such torrid time way back when left yours truly desperately searching the pockets of old jackets in the back of the wardrobe in a forlorn attempt to unearth a forgotten £20 note and buy a chicken jalfrezi from the local Indian restaurant.
The sensible thing to do is not to max out on expensive presents or on copious amounts of food and drink but it’s the season to be jolly, right?
Money can always be put aside for a rainy day but punters who have recently enjoyed a few successful flutters can pile those winnings on ante-post bets for Novak Djokovic to win the Australian Open in January.
The reward will be a nice nest egg waiting when he inevitably lands the first grand slam of the year in Melbourne.
It’s as near a certainty as you will find over the next few months and it comes at decent odds.
The sensational Serbian equalled Margaret Court’s record of 24 slam successes when he won a fifth men’s title at the US Open in New York on Sunday.
Djokovic beat Daniil Medvedev in a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory that was anything but straightforward yet he found the will to succeed.
There are few in the sporting world who can match Djokovic’s sheer drive and determination and he will be pulling out all the stops in Australia to ensure he stands alone as the player to have won the most grand slams by claiming championship No.25.
It would be fitting, too, if he set the new milestone in Melbourne.
Djokovic has won ten Australian Open titles and the only time he has not triumphed there in the last five years was in 2022 when he was refused entry into the country because he was not vaccinated against Covid.
Back in his familiar role as the new world No.1, the 36-year-old from Belgrade still has enough gas in the tank to repel the challenge of the young pretenders to his throne.
He has won three of the four majors this year with Wimbledon the only title missing from the collection – and even then it took an almost superhuman effort from Carlos Alcaraz to defeat him in the final.
Are you really going to snub the chance to back Djokovic at 11/8 with Bet Victor and have a lovely little investment waiting to be cashed in January?
• Ukraine are 13/2 with Ladbrokes and Coral to build on their gutsy effort against England with a Euro 24 qualifying victory against Italy.
• Japan, South Korea, France and Senegal form Tuesday’s international friendly yankee.
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