The men’s draw at the French Open is as wide open as it has been in more than a decade. It is no longer the Rafael Nadal Invitational. The Spaniard’s age and inability to overcome a litany of injuries is partially responsible. Add in Carlos Alcaraz’ struggles and injuries and simply an unparalleled depth of overall talent on the men’s side and it all equates to an opportunity for at least 8-10 players to realistically believe they can claim tennis’ second Grand Slam of the year.
The boys of Bet the EDGE offered a lengthy breakdown of the field earlier this week. Here are a handful of snippets from Jay and Drew.
Dinsick (@whale_capper) is excited about the prospects of a wide-open French Open.
“Its going to be a fun one…We are going to see the stars.”
Bet the Edge will break down the French Open Draw on Friday. Jay Croucher and Drew Dinsick’s insights will be available beginning at 6AM ET right here or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Top 4 seeds are a bet against for Drew.
“My interest in Alcaraz (+175) considering he is dealing with a dominant elbow injury is virtually zero. I think the best you’ve seen of Alcaraz this entire year was at Indian Wells and even that was a little bit of a flash…for Djokovic (+275), anything could happen. He could show up and get bounced early by just somebody taking him on and him not having the answers. Djokovic has turned over almost his entire team - trainers, coaches…nutritionists like literally everyone has been shown the door and it is very unclear to me if he is pointing at trying to win this Slam or if he’s using it as an opportunity to get matches under his belt before Wimbledon…again, at price not interested.”
Dinsick continued with a look at Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner and the greatest of all-time at Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal.
“Sinner (+400) is the easiest pass at price because he’s playing against doctor’s advice. He’s dealing with a hip injury…I think expecting him to be able to go for two weeks in seven matches in this format on these conditions with a hip injury is lunacy…Nadal (+1200) is the easiest pass of all. He is coming for his hat tip, his respect to the French crowd…His quality of tennis he’s produced is so far, far down from what we’ve seen from him when he was contending for titles here…the best of five format and over seven matches just doesn’t seem likely.”
Read more: Nadal’s road to the title in Paris has been announced.
So who is he betting will raise the hardware in two weeks?
“Best Price is going to be Casper Ruud (+1100). That’s going to be the horse I ultimately end up attaching my wagon to…he could be positioned quite well just to make a clean run to the semifinals here…in the run-up to the French Open (span of four tournaments)…I thought the most impressive was Ruud and I think in general he has shown enough quality so far in the year 2024 to believe that he can put it together at Roland Garros and make it to a Final and maybe even win this one if he can get a little injury luck on the other side of the bracket.”
Enjoy the fortnight in Paris and a couple sweats at the 2024 French Open.