Australian Open 2012 live stream

Watch and bet on the 2012 Australian Open live at bet365>livestreaming>tennis from 15th January.

Rafael Nadal has won 10 Grand Slam titles and was world number one from August 2008 to July 2009 and again from June 2010 to July 2011. He has, however, been overtaken by Novak Djokovic and there are now worries that the Spaniard will never again recapture his explosive form that led many to believe that he was the best player to ever play tennis.

These doubts stem from a series of niggling injuries that Nadal has suffered in the last year, starting at the 2011 Australian Open. Ahead of that tournament the Spaniard held the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles and was aiming for a clean sweep. Exhaustion got the better of the then 24-year-old and he was beaten in the quarter finals by David Ferrer and that allowed Novak Djokovic to claim victory in Melbourne, which set the Serb up for a year of dominance in men's tennis

Nadal was unable to live with the Serb for the rest of 2011 and lost in the final of the Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome Masters, plus Wimbledon and the US Open. He did manage to retain his French Open title but last season will have gone down as a disappointment for a player who is now unquestionably number two in the world.

He will hope to reclaim his number one ranking this year and a win at the Australian Open would go a long way to dispelling doubts over Nadal's future. He has, however, shown no signs in recent months that he will be able to finish top of the pile in Melbourne with a 6-3, 6-0 defeat to Roger Federer in the ATP World Tour Finals, a loss to David Ferrer in the Mumbadala World Champonships and defeat to Gael Monfils in Doha illustrated his recent fallibility.

Nadal is, however, a fighter - arguably the best to ever set foot on a tennis court - and he will be confident that his battling qualities can see him ride out this dip in form. He is a very generous 7/1 at Bet Victor to bounce back in style in Melbourne and claim the Australian Open title for the second time in his career, which could see him kickstart a rise to the top of the rankings.

If, however, Nadal's recent worries are a sign that he has lost his spark then he could be worth opposing in the fourth quarter. He is 4/7 at Sky Bet to reach the semi finals but Tomas Berdych (3/1) and John Isner (16/1) will both fancy their chances of catching the world number two off guard and if they do then we could even see the first year since 2005 where the man from Mallorca fails to win any Grand Slam titles.