Roland Garros 2020 Early Betting Odds Preview

We analyze the tennis betting board in search of  2020 Roland Garros odds for early tennis picks, focusing on several sports betting platforms in the process in order to deliver the best tennis bets to spot.

From a purely tennis betting perspective, betting on majors is hardly a wide-open affair in men’s tennis. Only a handful of players over the years have proven to be viable contenders in Grand Slam betting markets, and if history were any indication the best bet is more likely than not contained within this select group. Tennis bettors in-the-know probably don’t need reminding of who they are, but – just in case – a bit of name dropping won’t go amiss here: Roger Federer (20 titles), Rafael Nadal (19 titles) and Novak Djokovic (17 titles).

Odds credit: https://www.sportsbookreview.com/betting-odds/atp-tennis/futures

That this triplet has combined for a staggering 56 titles over almost the last two decades is quite something extraordinary. Only a handful of players have gate-crashed the majors since Roger Federer announced himself on the grand stage by winning his first major title at the luscious lawns of the All England Club in 2003 – Andy Roddick (2003 US Open), Gaston Gaudio (2004 French Open), Marat Safin (2005 Australian Open), Juan Martin Del Potro (2009 US Open), Andy Murray (2012 US Open and 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon), Marin Cilic (2014 US Open) and Stanislas Wawrinka (2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open, and 2016 US Open).

What’s even more surprising, astounding, phenomenal…(the choice of adjectives endless)…is that this dominance has only moved from strength to strength in recent years, despite all three cracking 30 years of age. In fact, these tennis veterans have divided the last 13 major titles amongst themselves with Djokovic and Nadal both picking up five apiece and Federer claiming three.

The last eight majors in a row, however, have been decided between Djokovic and Nadal, including two apiece in 2019 along with the 2020 Australian Open, which saw the Serbian triumph for an eighth major title Down Under and reclaims the No.1 spot, wrestling it from Rafael Nadal.

On the strength of this duopoly at the majors, bookmakers have gone to press by installing the pair at the vanguard of Roland Garros (also known as French Open) betting markets. Nadal leads the charge as the short-odds-on-fave, priced best at -115 with 5Dimes while Djokovic is a tasty +300 bet with both 5Dimes and Heritage – to name a few top-rated sportsbooks.

For the initiated tennis fans, Rafa leading the charge comes as no surprise. The Spaniard has only gone on to claim 12 of his 19 titles in Paris, an unprecedented dominance at one single event in the men’s game. Such is his dominance over Court Philippe Chatrier – and clay courts overall, for that matter – that he’s aptly dubbed the King of Clay.

Over the last 15 years (between 2005 and 2019), only three players have gate-crashed Nadal’s Parisian party – Roger Federer (2009), Stanislas Wawrinka (2015) and Novak Djokovic (2016) – making the French Open the indisputable precious Kingdom of the Spaniard, his throne to cede in the eyes of tennis aficionados.

Nadal conquered Paris for the first time in 2005 as a teenager and then went on to exercise his dominance on the red dirt for four straight years before suffering a shock upset in the R16 to Robin Soderling in 2009. That year, Roger Federer completed a career Grand Slam by winning his first and only French Open title (beating Soderling in the final in straight sets).

The Spaniard reclaimed his throne a year later, going on to exact his reign over Paris for five consecutive years and becoming in the process the first man in the history of the game to win nine titles at the same Grand Slam championships. (He’s added a few more Frenchy’s since then.)

A two-year title-drought in Paris ensued for Nadal, during which Wawrinka and Djokovic capitalized. Wawrinka beat Djokovic in 2015 final to claim his second major title; while Djokovic went on to beat Andy Murray the following year to claim his first French Open title, completing a career Grand Slam and becoming the first player since Rod Laver to achieve a non-calendar year Grand Slam at once (holding all four majors at the same time) with this title.

Nadal returned to his Parisian throne in 2017 and hasn’t looked back since, riding roughshod over the field to win three-straight. In that time, he also added two US Open titles (2017 and 2019) to his credit.

In a few months, Nadal will be bidding for his fourth-straight Frenchy, his 13^th Roland Garros title and his 20^th major title to rival Roger Federer in the history books as the most decorated champion of all time. Is it any wonder Nadal is the player to beat in Paris? Why his stock is so favorable across tennis betting markets?

Of course, just because Nadal is the odds-on-favourite doesn’t mean it’s absolute. Nothing is ever a dead cert in sports betting. Djokovic cuts a fine figure as the next best bet to claim the title, as well as several other players, such as Dominic Thiem (priced at +350 with 5Dimes), Stefanos Tsitsipas (+1800 with BetOnline), Roger Federer (+2000 with Sports Betting) and Stanislas Wawrinka (+4000 with 5Dimes).

Yet, it’s hard not to buy what Nadal has been selling over the years in Paris. There has been no clay-court player like him since Bjorn Borg (although he’s long outdone what the Swede ever did in the game), and no event has been so utterly dominated this side of the century by one player as Roland Garros is. It’s only fair therefore that the betting on Roland Garros begins (and ends?) with Nadal. It’s de rigueur.