Top Tennis Betting Picks of the Week – May 22nd Edition

Roland-Garros 2018 is getting underway this week, the second of the four Grand Slam tennis tournament held each year, and the only one held on clay. Rafael Nadal enters as the men’s favorite, after taking down Alexander Zverev in three sets at the final of the Italian Open last Sunday, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. Let’s look at some players on the men’s side who you should consider as you plan your tennis betting for Paris’ turn at hosting the greats of the world.

Top Tennis Betting Picks of the Week – May 22nd Edition

Back in pole position…😉 After winning Rome, @RafaelNadal is No.1 again in the @ATPWorldTour rankings! pic.twitter.com/gMWh3tA9Fu

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 21, 2018

Rafael Nadal already has 10 of the first 121 trophies that have been issued to the winner of this event, originally known as the French Open but now called Roland-Garros. He has 16 total Grand Slam titles, most recently the U.S. Open back in September. In the 2018 Australian Open, he made it to the quarterfinals. Then, he took some time off to prepare for the clay court season, which is his best time. He won 14 matches in a row to start the clay season, not losing until the third round of the Madrid Masters, when Dominic Thiem stopped him in straight sets. He did right the ship in Rome, taking the title, and his other big title wins in 2018 came at the Monte-Carlo Masters and ATP Barcelona. At Roland-Garros last year, he did not lose a single set en route to a title, dropping seven games to Thiem and six games in the final against Stan Wawrinka. Alexander Zverev is the youngest player ranked in the top 20 of the ATP standings. The fact that he made it to the finals in Rome makes him another favorite here, although a win at a major would represent a new step for him. He has never made it past the fourth round of any Grand Slam, and that was Wimbledon. In Paris, his deepest penetration has been into the third round. In 2017, Fernando Velasco delivered an upset win over Zverev in the opening round. However, he has won two titles of his own on clay, rolling to a win at the Madrid Masters without even losing a set. He has a significant amount of improvement over 2017, but winning a Grand Slam is a feat that he may not yet have the composure to pull off.

Who Has Stopped Nadal?

Dominic Thiem is the only player who has stopped Nadal on the clay this year. He made it to the semis at Roland-Garros in each of the past two years; at the other Grand Slams, he has never made it past the fourth round. Novak Djokovic eliminated in 2016, but then he turned the tables and routed Djokovic in the quarters last year. Does he have the stamina to win against Nadal, even though it might take the full five sets to do it? Marin Cilic is a top-ten player in the ATP rankings, but he struggles on the clay court. His serve isn’t right for the surface, and we saw this in a loss to Kei Nishikori in Monte Carlo and then in an early exit against Malek Jaziri, who upset Cilic in his home country of Turkey at the Istanbul tournament. Grigor Dimitrov only made it to the third round last year. He does much better on the faster surfaces — but he did make it to the semis at Monte Carlo. So if his game picks back up again, and he has a friendly draw, he could stick around late. Juan Martin del Potro does much better on faster courts as well. He won at Acapulco and Indian Wells and made it all the way to the finals in Miami. John Isner and Kevin Anderson have big serves but may lack the endurance that it takes to prevail on the slower surface.