The 2019 French Open begins on Sunday 26th May and it is set to be a fantastic event. The tournament will be played on the red clay courts of Roland Garros in Paris. This will be the second Grand Slam of the year and the 123rd edition of the tournament. Previous winners of the French Open men’s singles include Roy Emerson, Mats Wilander, Rene Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Bjorn Borg, Max Decugis and Rafael Nadal.
The latter of which is the two-time defending champion going into this year’s event.
Nadal the Favourite
Rafael Nadal is the most successful player in the history of the French Open. His 11 titles to date see him 3 clear of Max Decugis in second place and 5 clear of Bjorn Borg in the open era. The Spaniard has won 11 of the last 14 men’s singles tournaments at the French Open, which is a tremendous record.
However, Nadal has had an inconsistent season to date. Having ended the hard court season with defeats to Nick Kyrgios and Roger Federer, Nadal has lost on his favoured clay court surface to Fabio Fognini, Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
He bounced back to win in Rome, defeating Novak Djokovic in the final but it was still far from vintage Nadal. Nonetheless, the world number two is the favourite to win the 2019 French Open men’s singles at 10/11 with Ladbrokes .
Djokovic and Federer
Djokovic and Federer make up the remainder of the ‘big three’ at Roland Garros this year. The former has already won the Australian Open in 2019 and despite suffering from a slump since then, has picked up again in the build up to the French Open.
Djokovic won in Madrid and will feel, from the final against Nadal in Rome, he can beat the Spaniard this year. You can back Djokovic at 5/2 with Ladbrokes to win the French Open.
This will be the first time in four years Federer has played at the French Open. He has not looked particularly good on clay in the lead up to the event and his form in Rome was nothing to write home about. Clay is clearly not his favourite surface and it would be a surprise to see Federer reach the latter stages of the tournament.
Federer is on offer at 33/1 with Ladbrokes to win the French Open 2019 men’s singles.
Tsitsipas Good Value
If the big three are to falter, who could come through to win the tournament? Stefanos Tsitsipas has defeated Nadal this year on clay, won a couple of ATP 250 events and beat Federer at the Australian Open on the way to the semi-final stage.
The Greek has the game to go deep at Roland Garros this year and is available at 20/1 with William Hill to win the tournament.
Dominic Thiem, who won the Barcelona Open and Indian Wells this year is also a good shout at 7/1 with Ladbrokes to win the 2019 French Open men’s singles.