Who got unlucky?

Luck alone will never win you a tennis tournament and it will never even win you an individual match.  However it can still affect your chances of success as the luck of the draw can provide players with favorable match-ups or less than favorable match-ups.

Here's the seeded players who got a bit of bad luck in Melbourne with the Australian Open draw for men's singles (no particular order):

1.  Radek Stepanek (+20000, 200/1 to win the tournament; Victor Chandler)
Stepanek is the 13th seed at the Aussie and he drew Ivo Karlovic (ranked 37th) in the first round, a player that everyone knows is very dangerous, even against higher ranked players.
Karlovic and Stepanek played one another in 2009 Davis Cup play and although Stepanek won, it was an absolute nightmare in terms of energy conservation. The match went 5 sets, the first four sets all went to tiebreakers, and the fifth set ended 16-14.

Karlovic's serve can, at times, be impossible to break as  Dr. Ivo is nearly 7 feet tall.  He's goofy with his footwork and touch however and he sometimes volleys balls 3 feet out that even the guy ranked 200th in the world would keep in.

If Karlovic (+15000, Victor Chandler) is serving well and keeping his passing shots in bounds, he could beat Stepanek and it wouldn't even be a significant upset as Karlovic has shorter odds than Stepanek to win the Aussie.

Even if Stepanek wins, he could spend way more energy winning than most seeded players will spend and that could lead to an upset later as he has Julien Benneteau in his micro-section.

2.  Juan Martin Del Potro (+500; bet365)
Del Potro has Marin Cilic in his quarter and that is not great news for the 4 seed.  Del Potro would definitely be favored should a heads up match arise against Cilic, who is seeded 14th, but the young Croatian has a recent tour title and is recognized as a dark horse for the Australian Open title.

3.  Lleyton Hewitt (+10000; bet365)
Hewitt has his nemesis Roger Federer in his draw to the quarters and that should mean lights out for Hewitt should he make the 4th round.  Hewitt has lost 14 consecutive matches against Federer although Fed's recent slide might give Hewitt and Australian some hope.

Go to bet365 to bet on Australian Open tennis.