French Open Tennis Betting 2008
Sunday 25 May to Sunday 8 June
Les Internationaux de France de Roland Garros, or the French Tennis Open to you and me, is well under way in Paris with our man Andy Murray doing his usual five set nail biter to progress to the second round. Clay is not the chosen surface for the young Briton and he has brought in Alex Corretja, a former French Open finalist and former world No.2, to school him in the intricacies of playing on clay.
Tennis betting fans might be forgiven for believing the dark prophecies of many a tennis pundit that Murray will never win a grand slam title, but behind the prickly, sometimes scary young man lays a driven athlete who is never short of determination to progress beyond the expectation of his detractors. His record for the year on clay includes five wins, all in Master Series events. His eventual defeat at the hands of Rafael Nadal is hardly shocking and it should be noted that Murray has improved his performance considerably over last year when a wrist injury meant he was out of action for four months.
Murray goes on to face Argentine Jose Acasuso in the second round. Murray lost in the first round in 2006 and withdrew injured last year and now faces a clay court specialist in Acasuso who will certainly test the young Scot. Declaring that he has been under antibiotics for a throat infection, Murray felt he had played below his best and had been forced to cut back on training prior to the tournament.
Rafael Nadal, world No. 2, is favourite to win over top man , Roger Federer and bookies are apparently pretty sure of themselves with their offer of only 4/5 on Nadal over the tempting 7/2 on the deeply talented Swiss. Not to be overlooked is Serb, Novak Djokovic who has progressed very rapidly to No. 3 and is seeking to replace Nadal in the No. 2 slot. The sheer tenacity of Djokovic should not escape the attention of shrewd sports betting enthusiasts.
French Open Betting Favourites
The women’s event has been thrown wide open with the unexpected retirement of champion Justine Henen prior to the tournament. The departure of the Belgian makes Maria Sharapova No. 1 but clay is not her surface and she has a calf strain which had caused her to withdraw from the Italian Open semi-final last week. She expects to be fit to meet fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina in the first round and bookies are offering 11/2 on her going all the way. Obstacles to her supremacy loom in the forms of Serbs Jelena Jancovik, 9/2 and Ana Ivanovic at 8/1and the 2002 champion Serena Williams who shares the same 9/2 price with Jelena. The American feels she is better prepared on clay that at any time since her previous victory and is manifesting her usual vast amount of self-belief.
Online betting buffs will relish the prospect of some very good prices for strong challengers to the favourites and will be scrutinising the myriad of online betting sites on the Internet for the best possible offers.
