The second Grand Slam of the year is upon with the red dirt of Roland Garros hosting the top tennis stars in the world for the French Open over the next couple of weeks. This tournament has its critics but after a thrilling clay court season we should be in for quite some event here.
Rafael Nadal won the title for the 11th time last year and he is the overwhelming favourite to retain the title but plenty of men have shown their prowess on the clay this season and will be secretly fancying their chances.
Recent Winners
2018 – Rafael Nadal
2017 – Rafael Nadal
2016 – Novak Djokovic
2015 – Stan Wawrinka
2014 – Rafael Nadal
2013 – Rafael Nadal
2012 – Rafael Nadal
2011 – Rafael Nadal
2010 – Rafael Nadal
2009 – Roger Federer
The Format
There are 128 players in the draw which has been determined prior to the event beginning and the competition is a straight knockout over the best of five sets like the other Grand Slams. Where there is a difference in this one is that there is no tiebreak in the final set of matches. They have to be won by two clear games when the score reaches 6-6. The champion will be crowned on the third Sunday of the tournament.
Top Quarter
Novak Djokovic is the number one in the world having won the last three Grand Slams and he will attempt to hold all four major titles from the top quarter of proceedings. In terms of the seedings at least, his main challenger for a spot in the semi-final is due to be Alexander Zverev but there are six other seeds looking to say something about that. They are Fabio Fognini, Dusan Lajovic, Roberto Bautista Agut, Borna Coric, Denis Shapovalov and Gilles Simon.
There are a number of unheralded players in this part of the draw too. Hubert Hurkacz has a very bright future although he is up against Novak Djokovic in the first round. Sam Querrey, Andreas Seppi, Federico Delbonis, Bernard Tomic and Steve Johnson are all capable operators while British eyes will have their focus on Cameron Norrie in this quarter of the event.
Second Quarter
The 2018 beaten finalist Dominic Thiem is the top seed in the second quarter as he plots a bid to go one better than he managed 12 months ago. He is seeded to meet Juan Martin del Potro in what would be a juicy quarter final. Felix Auger-Aliassime, Lucas Pouille, Karen Khachanov, Gael Monfils, Fernando Verdasco and British number one Kyle Edmund remain the other seeds looking for a big conclusion to their clay court season.
There are some canny and capable clay court operators on show among those not seeded in this quarter too. Pablo Cuevas would be one of them. He is very much at home on this surface while Jeremy Chardy will enjoy home support. Dan Evans will look to keep the British interest going for a while with veterans Ivo Karlovic and Feliciano Lopez looking for a decent passage through. Nicolas Jarry is a dangerous outsider too.
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Third Quarter
Roger Federer heads up the third quarter on his return to the tournament having taken the entire clay court season off for the last couple of years. He is scheduled to meet the man who ended his Australian Open campaign in Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter final. With no disrespect to those to this is the section seeded players would fancy a run in and therefore there could be an opportunity for Frances Tiafoe, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, Marco Cecchinato, Diego Schwartzman and Matteo Berrettini.
There are some clever clay courters among those unseeded in this quarter as well. Ernests Gulbis has had a decent run here in the past while Marton Fucsovics, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Grigor Dimitrov, Reilly Opelka, Filip Krajinovic and Maximilian Marterer all have big games in them and could do relatively deep if the big names struggle to fire.
Bottom Quarter
It is right at the bottom of the draw where we will find the defending champion and king of Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal. If the tournament goes to the seedings then he will meet Kei Nishikori in the quarter final but there are one or two players looking to put a dent in that thought process. The other seeds in this quarter are Laslo Djere, Alex De Minaur, Daniil Medvedev, Nikoloz Basilashvili, Guido Pella and David Goffin.
As with the other quarters there are a few players to look out for among the unseeded fraternity this tournament. Miomir Kecmanovic shot to life in the American hard court season and showed a liking for the big match. Home players Richard Gasquet and Pierre-Hugues Herbert will get a lot of support this week as will Benoit Paire and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga while Albert Ramos-Vinolas could be very dangerous.
Outright Betting
Given the likelihood of Rafael Nadal winning the tournament there isn’t a huge amount that I like in the outright market here. Pretty much everyone who is competent on clay has had his price cut by a decent percentage and some of those who still retain a touch of value don’t have the best of draws or are in Nadal’s part of the draw. There is one possible exception to the rule however.
You have to accept what you are going to get with Fabio Fognini but given that he has already won a Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo this season, beating Alexander Zverev and Rafael Nadal along the way, I’m prepared to take my chances on the Italian going deep here at 100/1. To be fair he isn’t a great deal shorter than 100/1 to fancy the job seven times in a fortnight but if he does he has the power on both wings to take the racquet away from anyone, Nadal and Djokovic included. In a draw which I can’t find much I like in, Fognini will hopefully keep me interested for a while.
Quarter Betting
It makes more sense to target the quarters given Nadal’s expected dominance and so in the top quarter I’ll have another piece of Fognini. Djokovic is an obvious hurdle to overcome but he doesn’t have the most straightforward path into the latter stages so it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world if the Italian comes through the draw and threatens to make the semi-final. I’m no massive fan of Zverev in Grand Slams and I’m not convinced going deep in Geneva is the best preparation for a two week slog. Fognini has made the quarters here before and if he can stay balanced for a couple of weeks he could go one better here.
There isn’t a huge amount that I like in the second quarter but when the big stage comes along you can be sure Juan Martin del Potro will grow in stature and at 6/1 he is a little overpriced to come through this section. Dominic Thiem is here and he’ll be a stubborn challenger but when Karen Khachanov is the third favourite in the quarter you know it might not take a lot of winning. Were it to be a Thiem and del Potro quarter final, the Argentine leads 4-0 on their career meetings. I’ll take that 6/1 on the big man.
In the third quarter it is meant to be about Stefanos Tsitsipas and Roger Federer but I’m not convinced it will play out that way. Federer is basically on a free roll here I would suggest. Few, if any, expect him to win this and that could put a bit more pressure on the Greek. If he crumples in a heap it could be that Diego Schwartzman takes advantage. He made the semi-finals in Rome recently with Kei Nishikori among his victims and he has a win on clay over Dominic Thiem to his name so he can play on the surface. He is fit as a fiddle so could even beat off beaten runners later in the piece. He looks overpriced to me at 12/1.
Tips
Back F.Fognini to win French Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back F.Fognini to win 1st Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with Betfred
Back J-M.del Potro to win 2nd Quarter for a 2/10 stake at 7.00 with Betfred
Back them here:
Back D.Schwartzman to win 3rd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
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