French Open betting preview - Men's tournament

The Roland-Garros 2012 tournament is already under way with the qualifying matches playing nowadays, and the 1st round matches are approaching fast. In this article we give you a preview of the Men's tournament, so continue reading in order to get all the necessary info for your French Open betting preview!

French Open betting preview - Top 10 ATP ranked players

Novak Djokovic (1)

The Serb Novak Djokovic had a fantastic season last year, he was almost unbeatable and won 3 out of 4 Grand Slam titles, and lost only in the French Open semifinal against Roger Federer. He is still the No. 1 in the world, but many ranking points have been lost for Novak over the last couple of tournaments. The season overall so far for Novak is not as good as it was last year, but no one expected that kind of season again, after all the performance he had last year was one of a kind. Yet he is considered as one of the favorites in this year's French Open, he did after all have a fantastic clay court season last year, where he beat Nadal in the finals of several claycourt final matches.

Rafael Nadal (2)

"The King of Clay" Rafael Nadal won the tournament last year, he stands with 6 titles in the French Open and have only lost one match against Robin Soederling (in 2009 in the fourth round). Nadal has struggled a bit with the shape of the past, but has recovered slightly at the level we know him from the clay, and has beaten Novak Djokovic on clay two times this season - very important for his psyche and self-confidence before this tournament. Rafael Nadal is the favorite as usual, but we have seen him in far better shape than this, so could be a surprise this year.

Roger Federer (3)

Roger Federer is called "The Grand Slam". This is a player who always delivers in Grand Slam contests and rarely gets eliminated before the semifinals. Federer has 4 final losses in the French Open, everyone against Nadal. But he won in 2009, after beating Robin Soederling in the final. Federer is always seen as the underdog in the eyes of the bookmaker, but at around 10.00 odds, it is a clear value in playing the Swiss this year.

Andy Murray (4)

Andy Murray has shown that he can challenge most players when he is at his best, but often Andy disappoints once he has the chance to win a Grand Slam, his record is poor with losing 3 out of 3 Grand Slam finals. Murray has had a poor season so far, has really disappointed the last couple of months. He was in the semifinals of the Australian Open, but it has gone downhill ever since. Murray has been weak this season on the clay, and clay is his weakest surface.

Jo-Willfried Tsonga (5)

Jo-Willfried Tsonga is a very attractive and exciting player to watch, and loved by the crowd. The Frenchman is not a fantastic clay court player, and usually can not quite get beyond the fourth round. The serve is important for Tsonga's play, but you can’t get that kind of easy points on the clay as you would on grass or hard-court. Tsonga can continue to surprise and get to a quarter-final if he is lucky with the draw, but beyond that it is probably not this year either for Tsonga, unfortunately.

David Ferrer (6)

David Ferrer is a respected player that has been on the tour for a long time. A clay court specialist, he thrives particularly well on this surface, and has been a top 10 player for a long time. Ferrer has still only managed quarter-final as his best finish in the French Open, perhaps a surprise for many. David is struggling against the top 3 players Federer, Djokovic and Nadal, which means that he is somewhat overshadowed by the good company in the biggest tournaments. Still, he is an exciting underdog that at his best can give all players a great test - so maybe he will succeed this year?

Tomas Berdych (7)

The Czech Berdych is an exciting player who has grown very during the last 2-3 years. He had a fantastic season in 2010, where he was in the semi-finals of the French Open and the finals of Wimbledon. Disappointed in last year's French Open, losing in the first round. But his clay court form has been good so far this year, he was in the finals of the Masters in Madrid (lost to Federer) and semifinals in Monte Carlo (lost to Djokovic). In other words, two very good tournament results but he ultimately lost against the top players.

Janko Tipsarevic (8)

Janko Tipsarevic does not have a great record in Grand Slam contests, his best Grand Slam tournament was last year in the U.S. Open, where he got to his first quarter-final of his career. Besides this, the Serb usually went out in the second and third round of the Grand Slams. He is an exciting and good player who brought out his full potential last year, as he entered the top 10 of the rankings. Tipsarevic is a player who is good from the baseline and at his best serves very well, but has been shown to be clearly better on the faster surfaces, and we have a feeling that he will not get very far in this year's tournament and could lose to an underdog.

Juan Martin Del Potro (9)

The Argentine Del Potro has had a good season so far and is usually hard to beat. He is a player that can challenge many good players on most surfaces, and has a Grand Slam title from 2009 from the U.S. Open after the victory over Roger Federer. Del Potro has not been back to the form he was in 2009, after getting a shoulder injury and being out of play for many months. Del Potro can go a long way here, but he will have a tough time getting anything more than a quarter-final, considering the physical strain of playing the French Open. We believe it is important that he wins his matches in 3 sets at the start of the tournament, so he is fit as possible when he meets the best players.

Mardy Fish (10)

Mardy Fish has withdrawn from the French Open 2012 because of a injury.

John Isner (11)

Isner is a player that few players like to meet. The reason is very simple, John Isner is very difficult to break, and as the opponent you have no flow in your game when you meet a player like Isner who earns the most on a short rally. Isner gave Nadal major problems in last year's French Open, he lost by 2-3 in sets in a very even and close match. Isner has earlier this year beaten players like Djokovic and Federer on the clay in the Davis Cup in Switzerland. This says something about what John is capable of if he makes a perfect match. John is probably not going to win, but he can certainly offer a lot of problems for many players if he has a good day at work, provided things are goinging his way and the match is not going on for hours.

French Open betting preview - The outsiders

Milos Raonic (22)

An exciting player that can do well on clay as well, as he has a very good serve to lean on. Raonic is a player who plays tennis in an extremely aggressive way, and this makes him difficult to play against if he is on his best form. He showed very good form recently in Barcelona, giving David Ferrer a tough match in the semifinals after defeating Andy Murray in the quarterfinals. Raonic has only participated in the French Open once, in 2011, where he lost in the first round. He is not going to the top this year, but we are sure he can get to the third, maybe fourth round.

Gael Monfils (13)

Gael Monfils is a very good clay court player who always fires up the French audience when he is at his best. A player who has a great physique and is very good defensively on the clay. He was in the quarterfinals last year and lost to Roger Federer. Monfils is an exciting player that you should never write off, but the problem is that he has not been as sharp this year as last year, and it can be difficult to repeat last year's French Open tournament. But he is still an exciting player and will be very fun to watch in Paris.

Nicolas Almagro (14)

Almagro is a very good clay court player who has had some good tournaments in the French Open contests. He has twice been in the quarter-finals, back in 2008 and 2010. Almagro has probably not been in his best form in the last few weeks before this year's French Open, but he is still an exciting player that can surprise. And as we see it, he is quite good at resetting himself from one week to the next and can quickly play himself into form.

End notes

Many exciting matches await us in this year's French Open, and as usual it is very tough to make it past the top 4 players who have dominated tennis in recent years in the Grand Slam contests. If we have to choose to put an outright winner bet on someone, it would have on Roger Federer in terms of a very good odds, as Federer is a player who frequently performs very well in major tournaments.

We hope you have enjoyed this French Open betting preview. Stay tuned for the preview of the Women's tournament, and good luck with your betting!