The pulp cliché is “look for the woman” but in tennis betting it is the women who look for the trophy awarded to the winner of the 2017 French Open – aka Roland Garros. People who bet on tennis at a sportsbook have plenty to choose from between clear-cut favorites and dark horses.
Tennis Betting on Simona Halep
The 2014 French Open runner-up has made it at least to the semifinals in her last three tournaments, and won the Mutua Madrid Open for the second straight year. When it comes to clay, Halep is just like Rafael Nadal – only a hell of a lot prettier. The Romanian has lost only one match on clay this year and is 24-3 going back to last season. Halep has won six WTA Premier Mandatory events but has yet to win a Grand Slam.
Garbiñe Muguruza
The Spanish-Venezuelan is your current reigning and defending French Open Women’s Singles champion, having defeated Serena Williams in a rematch of the 2015 Wimbledon final. Muguruza has reached four quarterfinals and two semis this year but has also been unceremoniously ousted early in nine tourneys. Conversely, she went 11-2 on clay in 2016, and even though she lost in the semifinals of the Italian Open, Muguruza showed what she’s capable of on that surface.
Elina Svitolina
What do the aforementioned Halep and Muguruza have in common? They have both been recently defeated by Svitolina; the Ukrainian dispatched them back-to-back on her way to winning the Italian Open and crack the WTA Top 10. In addition to that she is 6-2 against top-10 opposition, including tennis betting upsets against Angelique Kerber and Karolina Pliskova. She reached the quarterfinals of the 2015 Roland Garros, her best and only such placing in 18-career Grand Slam showings.
Venus Williams
The French Open and the Aussie Open remain in Venus’ to-do list; she failed to win the latter against her sister this year but just making the finals again after 14 years could be the shot in the arm she needed to finally win Roland Garros. Williams is 17-6 this year and has made four quarterfinals – and is ‘Merica’s best shot at winning the title.
Irina-Camelia Begu
The Romanian is what people who bet on tennis call a long shot. Her consecutive outings at Charleston (quarterfinals) and Istanbul (semis) were not too shabby at all, but she’s not French Open material quite yet. Begu has posted 13 losses this season, only one of which was against a top 10-ranked opponent, and nine were in the first round against comparatively weak opponents.
Serena Williams
Tennis betting experts do not see Venus’ sister winning her fourth French Open. Maybe it has to do with the fact that she will miss the rest of the season on account of being with child. By the way, this will be the first time in the history of the tournament that both defending champions of the Australian Open (the other being Roger Federer) pulled out before the start of the competition. If only someone else had also pulled out, then Serena might have been able to participate.