2012 French Open Betting Lines Favor Rafael Nadal
May 16th, 2012 | Author: John
Roger Federer is the King of the Blue Clay right now, but oddsmakers aren’t backing him on red clay. After winning the Masters in Madrid, Federer has the third-best odds to win the French Open this weekend, still trailing rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Nadal is the overall front runner, according to Bovada’s French Open Futures Odds, while Djokovic is second.
Federer hasn’t won at Roland Garros since 2009, and hasn’t taken a Grand Slam event since 2010. But he’s reached at least the quarterfinals in each of his last 31 Slam events, and reached the French Open final in 2010, losing to Nadal.
Djokovic seems to be a bad play at that spot after a miserable performance at the Masters, and has never really been relevant at Roland Garros, losing to Federer last year.
There are a lot of better plays like Tomas Berdych, who fell to Federer in the championship in Madrid, and looks to be gaining steam on clay. Players 
complained that the blue clay slid differently and played differently, disrupting their games instantly. But Berdych looked fine and at odds around 60/1, could be a really nice value bet.
As for Nadal, he’s always been a monster at Roland Garros, winning five of his last six appearance. He has an overall record of 38-1 there, too, and he avenged his only loss in 2009 by crushing Robin Soderling in the final the next year, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. He had trouble at the Masters, losing even when his opponent had nine double faults and only five aces, but recent history shouldn’t bear that much weight. Djokovic is playing better tennis than Nadal overall, but I’d take Nadal on this court in this city any day over him.