French Open: Men's Tip

There’s little doubt that the man most likely to win the Men’s French Open is Rafa Nadal. He is hunting a record seventh title at Roland Garros and he is coming in off the back of clay successes in Monte Carlo and Rome. But best odds of 8/11 (bodog) for the Spaniard are simply too short given the quality of opposition he will face.

Given that he was well beaten by Nadal twice on clay recently, Novak Djokovic also looks too skinny at 11/4 (totesport). He may be world number one, but the Serbian is yet to even make the final in Paris.

All things considered, the value option for the second Grand Slam event of the year must be Roger Federer at a best price of 10/1 with BetVictor. The Swiss star has had a really good nine months since the US Open and even won the Madrid Open on blue clay recently. That was enough to briefly re-instate the 16-time major champion as world number two; he leapfrogged Nadal who then reclaimed the spot only last week. There’s still little between the two men.

Nadal won the final between the old rivals in four sets last year but at one point Federer looked like he had a real chance. But by taking the 10/1 available with BetVictor as an each-way bet, we will get paid out at half odds simply for Federer making the final. In other words, he doesn’t need to beat Nadal to make this a wager worth taking on.

The 30-year-old just needs to repeat his feat of 2011 when defeating Novak Djokovic in the Paris semi-finals. At that time the Serb was on a 43-match winning streak and few people gave the veteran a chance. Writing off Federer has consistently proven to be a mistake up till now. At much longer odds than his nearest rivals, he is the value each-way option.