French Open Odds

The French Open gives tennis fans a chance to showcase their knowledge of how tennis odds work by identifying players who excel on clay court surfaces. Not every tennis star can succeed on such a physically demanding surface; countless champions have collected Major Championship titles in all but the French Open, including Boris Becker, Jimmy Connors and Martina Hingis.

Players who rely on power can come up short here. High bounces result in longer rallies, making patience and perseverance integral. Names that have become synonymous with Roland-Garros over the years include Rafael Nadal, who is known as the king of clay with his 14 French Open titles, and counting. On the women’s side, Chris Evert won a record seven French Open titles in the 80s.

Although Nadal’s reign is ongoing, there is far less predictability on the women’s side, creating opportunities for sharp bets. The last time we saw back-to-back women’s singles champions was Justine Henin’s reign between 2005 and 2007. Fortunately, there are lots of ways to bet on the French Open beyond simply picking a potential winner. We’ll explain how to place the most popular bets after going over the history of this major tournament.

Brief History of the French Open

Originally called the Championnat de France, the French Open dates back to 1891, where it was first played at the Stade Francais. In the early days, it was just for men’s French tennis club members, and the inaugural tournament was won by a British man by the name of H. Briggs; he lived in Paris at the time. A women’s singles event was added to the docket in 1897, and the first female player to win was Adine Masson.

In 1925, the French Championships went from a local amateur tournament to an international one; this was the first year it allowed amateurs from around the world to compete. And with that change, the International Lawn Tennis Federation recognized it as a major championship.

In the 1920s, an ultra-talented group of French tennis players called the Four Musketeers (Les Quatres Mousquetaires) began their domination that ran into the early ‘30s. They won the Davis Cup in the United States in 1927 (the first of six straight wins), and their homeland was eager to host the defending Cup on home soil the following year. Plans were put in place to build a large venue in Paris that could accommodate the tournament, and it was named after the French fighter pilot, Roland Garros. In 1928, the French Championships transferred to the new venue.

A major change swept through the tennis world in 1968 when the Grand Slam tournaments opened up to professional tennis players. Previously, only amateurs competed in the Grand Slam events, which had no prize money. This shift to the Open era of tennis united the sport to showcase the best players in the world, regardless of their professional status. As result, the French Championship was renamed the French Open, and in 1968, the first official French Open took place; Ken Rosewall won the men’s single, and Nancy Richey won the women’s.

How to Bet on Golf’s US Open

Tennis betting on French Open usually starts in the futures market where you can pick the potential winner from a list of competitors. Each player has odds that dictate the payout should the pick come through as the winner. The odds are displayed in the American odds format by default, but you can convert them to decimal and fractional odds.

American odds can be positive or negative. On a Grand Slam futures board, like the French Open, they will almost always be positive; positive odds tell you how much money you would win on a $100 bet. If a player has +250 odds, you’d win $250 on a $100 bet. Note: bigger and smaller bets are allowed.

When you get into head-to-head matchups, there are multiple ways to bet. You can bet on the moneyline, which involves picking the winner of a match. One of the players will be the favourite with negative odds, while the other player will be the underdog and likely have positive odds. The negative odds show how much you’d need to bet to win $100. For example, if Player A is -260 on the moneyline, a $260 bet would yield a $100 payout.

French Open betting lets you bet on game spreads too. The favourite needs to beat the underdog by a minimum number of games in order to cover the spread and pay supporters. At the 2022 French Open, Rafael Nadal faced Casper Ruud as a 6.5-game favourite on the spread, meaning at the end of the set, when you add up the games for each player, Nadal had to beat his opponent by a minimum of 7. As it turned out, he beat Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0, which was a 12-game win margin—enough to cover the game spread and pay the Nadal faithful.

You can zoom out and look at set spreads too. A set spread has you bet on a player winning by a certain number of sets. At the French Open, the women play to a best-of-three, and the men play to a best-of-five. Therefore, women’s set spreads can only be 1.5; the favourite would need to win by two sets to cover (final score of 2-0). If the underdog wins a set (final score of 2-1), she covers and pays supporters.

The men can have a set spread of 1.5 or 2.5 at the French Open; the favourite needs to win either by two sets or three sets respectively in order to cover. In the Nadal-Ruud example, Nadal would have covered the set spread since he won in straight sets.

FAQ About French Open Betting Odds

Q: What happens if a player doesn’t end up competing?

A: Futures bets on the Majors have action regardless of whether or not the player competes. If the player does not compete, the bet is a loss. In the case of a match special, if a player does not compete, or withdraws before the end of the match, the bets are void, unless an outcome has already been determined.

Q: What happens if a player gets disqualified?

A: It doesn’t happen often, but if a player is disqualified, and the other player is awarded the victory and progresses on, the player who is awarded the victory is considered the winner for wagering purposes.