Betting: French Open Preview
Pamela Maldonado breaks down her best bets for the highly anticipated 2022 French Open.
Video Transcript
PAMELA MALDONALDO: The French Open kicks off on Sunday in Paris, France, which is ATP, the second major of the year and perhaps one of the most highly anticipated tournaments of 2022. You have the King of Clay in Rafael Nadal, who holds 13 titles here at this event. Except he's not the favorite. He is the third favorite up on the board to win this event at plus 400. You do have world number one, Novak Djokovic, who is the tournament favorite to take it down at plus 200 odds, followed by 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz at plus 225.
Looking at the top 3/4 of the draw, you have Nadal and Djokovic in the same quarter, plus Alcaraz in the same half, along with Alexander Zverev. Now at the bottom of the half, that's where things get interesting. You have Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has a pretty easy walk path into the final. We'll talk about him in a minute.
But I'm looking at the fourth quarter. Because perhaps that's the spot where we could find value. There's only two top 10 players listed in that part of the draw, including Andre Rublev, who holds a 4-3 win loss record here at this tournament, plus Daniil Medvedev, world number two who is, one, coming back from injury and, two, has played only one clay match so far this season losing to Richard Gasquet in straight sets just last week in Geneva.
So my long shot to win the fourth quarter of the French Open draw is Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic at plus 650 odds. Kecmanovic's path to the quarterfinal is either against opponents that he's already defeated or has the weapons to contend. Likely his first test won't come until the fourth round where he could potentially face Marin Cilic, who he has already beat once or against Pablo Carreno Busta.
Now, if he does happen to make it to the quarterfinal, it could be either against the plus 300 favorite in Jannik Sinner or the +350 second favorite in Andrey Rublev. Sinner does hold a 2 and 0 record to Kecmanovic, but that was both on hard court and the last one was in 2021. Kecmanovic is a much better player now because over the last year, he has been coached up by David Nalbandian.
If you're unfamiliar with him, Nalbandian is the only player to have the big three sweep, defeating Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer in the same tournament. Kecmanovic can definitely handle big servers. He has the consistent and deep returns which make him a threat and he himself has a big serve. He has the weapons and he has the clay court success this season to be able to come out as a long shot to win the fourth quarter.
A second betting option that I like for the French Open, is the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas plus 150 to reach the final. He is the fourth favorite to win it all at plus 450 odds. But in the top half of the draw, it is tricky. You have Nadal and Djokovic in the same quarter plus Alcaraz in the same half. Tsitsipas, his first test likely won't come until the fourth round where he could potentially face Casper Ruud or maybe even David Goffin.
Ruud is definitely one of the better clay court players on tour. However he holds a 5 to 16 win loss record against top 10 opponents. Now I like Tsitsipas plus 150 to reach the final instead of win at all because you are still talking about the three best players on court right now in Nadal, Djokovic, and Alcaraz. You can buy an odds for these betting options and more at the Yahoo Sportsbook.
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