As the 2015 clay court tennis season winds up at the French Open, the main topic of conversation going to Roland Garros stadium is Rafael Nadal. No surprise there. The Catalan southpaw has won a mind-boggling nine French Opens – more than any male player has won any Grand Slam event.
But things are a bit different for the 28-year old Nadal this time around. In the three tournaments that lead up to the French Open, Nadal was ousted in the Round of 16 in Monte Carlo, beaten in the finals at Madrid and thumped in straight sets at Rome in the Italian Open. Nadal has never arrived in Roland Garros without winning at least one of those tune-up tournaments.
Entering 2015, Rafa’s career record on clay – his favorite surface – was an astounding 320 wins against only 24 losses, a winning percentage of 93%. This year he is only 17-5. What are punters to make of this precipitous decline? Is it only a slump or has Nadal lost enough of his legendary quickness to bring about the end of his reign on clay? Rival Roger Federer has come out to say that he still considers Nadal to be the favorite at the French Open, his pedestrian 2015 record notwithstanding. The sportsbooks do not concur. At online bookie mybet.com Nadal is afforded second favorite status at 4.00.
【2015 French Open Men’s Singles Winner Odds】
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 20, 10:00 p.m. (GMT)
Complicating the wagering picture is the upcoming assignment of seed positions. For playing purposes there is no difference between the top seed and the #2 seed since the draw is the same. Beyond that the same holds for #3 and #4 – either seed will likely need to dispatch a top player to advance to the finals.
But fall out of the coveted top four spots and the path to the championship grows exponentially thornier. Despite being the defending champion and in spite of his fantastic record at the French Open, Nadal’s uninspired 2015 play has him trending towards the #7 or #8 seed. If that indeed comes to pass, Rafa will need to defeat all of the members of the tennis Big Four – Federer, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic to win his tenth French Open title. That is a world away from just two years ago when backers of Nadal at Roland Garros received negative odds.
The pre-tournament favorite is Djokovic, and properly so. He has dominated tennis so far this year and his stated objective for the season has been to bag the elusive French Open and finally complete a career Grand Slam. Djokovic is currently listed at 1.80 but he has lost in Paris three straight times to Nadal and anyone looking to back Novak at that price will need to be convinced that this will indeed be his year.
Djokovic has entered the French Open before trailing sparks from similar hot play. In 2011 he had not lost a match all year until he was upended by Federer in the semi-finals at the French Open. And what of Federer, winner of a record 17 Grand Slam men’s singles titles? He has beaten Djokovic this year but has only won once in 17 tries on the clay surface at Roland Garros. Last year he was dismissed in the fourth round and oddsmakers foresee more of the same for the 34-year old Swiss. He is posted at a distant 17.00 on the betting board.
If backing the best player of all-time on the men’s side is cause for pause, the same goes for world #1 Serena Williams on the women’s side. Usually it is a question of form for backers of Serena and she seems to be on her game now. Since the U.S. Open last year, Williams has lost only one completed match. But she has won only two times at Roland Garros and there is the specter of an elbow injury which caused her to pull out of the Italian Open. On the other hand, she has won seven of her eight outings on clay in 2015.
Williams has been installed as a 3.75 favorite but her two main rivals are close behind. Maria Sharapova, coming off a victory at the Italian Open is listed at 5.00 and Simona Halep, who lost to Sharapova in the French Open finals last year, is at 5.50. Both are considerably stronger on clay, which helps negate Serena’s powerful service advantage.
【2015 French Open Women’s Singles Winner Odds】
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 20, 10:00 p.m. (GMT)
Lurking just behind the top choices is two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka who has missed time, including this tournament in 2014, due to injury. She is lightly regarded at 9.00. Long shot players may want to consider Carla Suarez-Navarro at 19.00. The Spaniard has been going deep into tournaments during the European clay court season and made it all the way to the finals in Rome. She has improved by one round in each of her last three appearances on the clay at Roland Garros.
The French Open is famous for being the least formful of the major championships. Eyes looking for long odds on a player to sneak into the late rounds in the men’s draw this time may land on Milos Raonic who has become the first Canadian player to be ranked inside the top ten of the world rankings, ascending as high as #4. The 24-year old Raonic has made it as far as the quarterfinals in three of the last four Grand Slam events, losing twice to Djokovic and once to Federer. If he can push over that hump, backers will find quite a reward at 67.00.
Enough of the paralysis by analysis, it is time for the superstars and up-and-coming players of the tennis circuit to ascend on Paris and battle it out on the infamous red clay for supremacy of Les internationaux de France de Tennis. Get ready for two fun-filled weeks of thrilling tennis action!
