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Horse Racing French Open 2023: Men’s Futures Best Bet
French Open Men’s Futures Best Bet: Friday, May 26th
It’s finally time. After nearly four months of waiting, grand slam season has returned for tennis fans, with the tennis world descending on Roland Garros for the year’s premiere clay-court event.
With 14-time champion Rafael Nadal out of the running in 2023, the door has been opened for a slew of candidates to claim victory on the second Sunday on Court Philippe Chartier.
Let’s take a look at the draw now that we know the path to victory for each of the big names taking part in this year’s edition of the tournament.
In this article:
Top Half of the Draw
For me, there are between five and six guys who can win the tournament this year, and three of them reside in the top half of the draw.
It’s not just that either, it’s that two of the three in the top half are Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic – by far and away the two most likely to string together seven match wins and lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires.
The former headlines the first quarter, while the latter is found in the second quarter of the draw.
Each has his own question marks, with Alcaraz still having question marks surrounding his consistency in the best-of-five set format and Djokovic not having looked 100% healthy in his last several clay events.
While Djokovic has the much more manageable opponent in a potential quarterfinal, Alcaraz has handled Stefanos Tsitsipas with ease in their lone matchup this clay season.
The Greek is the third player from this half of the draw that has to be considered a serious contender, but a potential road that has to go through both Alcaraz and Djokovic just to reach the final seems like a big ask in a year that he hasn’t looked his best on court.
Bottom Half of the Draw
The bottom half also has a few names to watch, even if they aren’t quite as well-known as the likes of Alcaraz and Djokovic.
Last year’s finalist is here in Casper Ruud, along with Holger Rune, who has reached a pair of Masters 1000 finals on clay this year, Daniil Medvedev, the Rome champion and Jannik Sinner, one of the biggest ball strikers on tour and an all-court player, who can beat anyone on any given day and has only been toppled by the game’s elite, for the most part, this year.
I will say, I’ve scratched Ruud off my list of contenders, despite his appearance in the 2022 final.
His game lacks sorely when it comes to the backhand, his ranking is likely inflated by last year’s success and his run at the U.S. Open and his results in 2023 appear to show some regression to the mean.
The other three in this half all have a puncher’s chance in my mind. Medvedev is undoubtedly the most physically fit of the three, but his two young counterparts are much more natural players on the dirt and each can dictate play against the big Russian, who is content just sitting back and waiting for his opposition to make mistakes.
With this half a bit more open, not having to play the big dogs until the final and showing cheaper prices, it’s the bottom half I’d recommend focusing on for your futures bets at this year’s French Open.
French Open Futures Best Bet
I think once qualifying is done and we see some prices on players to win their quarters, we’ll see some more value on the board.
For now though, I’m tempted to look to the bottom half of the draw and avoid any potential bet having to play either Alcaraz or Djokovic prior to the final.
For me, I’m still hesitant with regards to Medvedev and I’m selling on Ruud with this regression firmly taking hold this season.
That leaves Rune and Sinner, the two young guns in this half of the draw as the prices that catch my eye.
While both have had issues surrounding their physicality in the past, I’m still of the belief that with the more open nature of their half of the draw and raw talent, they have what it takes to make a deep run in Paris.
Sinner is the player who has troubled Alcaraz the most in the past and I do believe that Medvedev is vulnerable if players employ the proper gameplan on clay and are overvalued thanks to his run in Rome.
That’s why I’m going with the 21-year-old from Italy as my best-value selection post-draw for the French Open.
- Selection: Sinner to win the French Open
- Best Odds: 12.00 (Bet365 or Unibet)
- Stake: 1/10
Odds as at 4:00 am May 26th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
