Odds slashed on Andy Murray for Sports Personality of the Year

After the 25-year-old’s first grand slam victory at the US Open yesterday, Murray’s odds were slashed by bookies from 10/1 on Saturday to 5/2, making him the second favourite to win the BBC honour at the annual awards ceremony on 19 December. Mo Farah was pushed down to third place with odds of 11/4.

Given that Murray is the first ever man to win the US Open and an Olympic singles gold in the same year, any other year may arguably have seen him to have claimed an easy first place position in the bets for the Sports Personality award.

But 2012 has been a magnificent year of sport, so Murray not only sits between champions Bradley Wiggins and Mo Fara as favourites for the BBC award but is closely followed by Olympic and Paralympic celebrities such as Jessica Ennis, David Weir and Ellie Simmonds in a list that is dominated by the feats of Olympians.

Wiggins remains the ultimate favourite expected to win, although the results of the US Open meant that his odds adjusted to 11/10, having previously been unaltered since his triumph in the Tour de France in July.

Previous winner Chris Hoy is a rank outsider for the BBC award, despite being crowned as Britain’s greatest ever Olympian this summer, after taking his tally of gold medals to a record six. The Scot is priced at odds of 100/1, alongside golfer Rory McIlroy.

Although starting with odds of 7/4 at the beginning of his momentous match against Novak Djokovic, after just two sets Murray was in the lead and his odds had transformed accordingly to 1/3 as favourite to win the match.

Ladbrokes said 45 per cent of punters’ bets came via mobile phone as thousands stayed up to watch the match through to the early hours of yesterday morning.

In the fifth and final set, where Murray’s odds stood at 5/4, one punter placed a colossal £20,000 on him to win, reaping his £45,000 winnings at the end of the tournament.

Jessica Bridge of Ladbrokes commented: “Punters are making a mint out of Murray. It looks like this could just be the start of his majors spree. Every man and his dog wanted a piece of the action on Monday night and it’s seen all in-play records broken.”

Early prices for Murray’s upcoming matches have already been put in place with a 3/1 chance for him to win the ATP Tour finals this November and odds of 11/4 that he’ll win another Grand Slam at the Australian Open in Melbourne early next year.

The full list of odds offered by Ladbrokes for Sports Personality of the Year is: Bradley Wiggins 11/10, Andy Murray 5/2, Mo Farah 11/4, Jessica Ennis 12/1, David Weir 20/1, Ellie Simmonds 50/1, Chris Hoy 100/1, Rory McIlroy 100/1, Ben Ainslie 150/1, Sarah Storey 150/1, Victoria Pendleton 200/1, Tom Daley 200/1, Laura Trott 200/1.