French Open betting

About the French Open

The French Open (Roland Garros – in French) is the second Grand Slam of the tennis season held between the end of May and beginning of June.

The tournament started in 1891 and is held at Stade Roland Garros in Paris on clay courts. It is considered the most physically demanding tennis tournament of all because of the slow playing surface and for having no tie-breaks in the final set.

The French open is one of the most watched tennis tournaments in the world and this means there is a lot of interest in French Open betting. If you want to place French Open bets read through this article and you will get some good information about the tournament.

Competitions during the French Open

As with all four Grand Slams, the French Open offers men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, plus mixed doubles.

In addition to this there are tournaments for juniors, seniors and wheelchair players

Previous men’s singles winners

The first French Open was won by a Brit, H. Briggs in 1891. After the first year French players won the title more often than not up to 1940.
Since his rise to fame in 2005 Rafael Nadal has won the French Open 5 times, missing out just once in 2009 to Rodger Federer. Due to his success, Nadal has been given the title “The King of Clay” and is widely regarded as the greatest clay court player of all time. A lot of French Open betting centres around Nadal due to his massive success at the tournament.

Year	Player
2010	Rafael Nadal
2009	Roger Federer
2008	Rafael Nadal
2007	Rafael Nadal
2006	Rafael Nadal
2005	Rafael Nadal
2004	Gastón Gaudio
2003	Juan Carlos Ferrero
2002	Albert Costa
2001	Gustavo Kuerten
2000	Gustavo Kuerten

Previous women’s singles winners

French players won the women’s French Open title up until Kea Bouman (Netherlands), who won it in 1927. More recently we have seen a host of different players winning the tournament, with Belgian Justine Henin winning four times.

Year	Player
2010	Francesca Schiavone
2009	Svetlana Kuznetsova
2008	Ana Ivanovi?
2007	Justine Henin
2006	Justine Henin
2005	Justine Henin
2004	Anastasia Myskina
2003	Justine Henin
2002	Serena Williams
2001	Jennifer Capriati
2000	Mary Pierce

Popular French Open players in recent times

Due to the nature of the French Opens playing surfaces, different players have dominated this event than the other three Grand Slams. The Clay slows down the ball and produces a high bounce taking away the impact of high speed serves. This means that players that rely on their serve more than other parts of their game are often at a disadvantage when compared to faster grass and synthetic hard courts. This is why we only see Rodger Federer and Serena Williams’ names just once on the winners list, with Venus Williams having never won the title. Pete Sampras who won 14 Grand Slams in his career also never won the French Open title.

Popular French Open bets

When making French Open bets take into account what we have said in this article. The players that dominate the French Open are not always the same big stars that often dominate the other three Grand Slams. Antepost Outright Betting where you pick the winner before the tournament will always be a popular betting market. Just take into account when you see Rodger Federer with good odds it’s because he has only won it once!

Before the French Open betting even starts there are so many players and it’s often difficult to predict who might win. If you can’t make your mind up you can opt for an each-way bet. In this case your stake will be doubled and if your selection makes the final but doesn’t win, you will still win because the doubled part of the bet is placed on second place.

Like all tennis matches, if the odds available for a particular player to win a match, particularly with French Open bets, you can bet on set scores for the match instead. This will get you much better odds as it opens up the possibilities much more, similar to a football score. E.g. Nadal may win a match 3 sets to 2.