Djokovic v Tsitsipas betting tips: Nadal conqueror the clear favourite
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Preview and odds for the French Open men’s final
Novak Djokovic has the chance to move to within one of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s record of 20 men’s grand slam singles titles when he faces Stefanos Tsitsipas in the French Open final on Sunday.
The Serb produced one of the performances of his life to dethrone Nadal in the semi-final at Roland Garros.
While Djokovic will be appearing in his 28th grand slam final, his opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas will be featuring at this stage for the first time.
Here we assess both players’ chances in Sunday’s final and some potential Djokovic v Tsitsipas betting tips.
Route to the final
Djokovic’s magnificent display against Nadal answered any questions about the world number one’s form after he was taken to five sets by world number 76 Lorenzo Musetti and made to work hard to see off Matteo Berrettini.
As a result Djokovic has been installed as 3/10 favourite to lift a 19th grand slam title and second at Roland Garros.
Spanish great Nadal went into the semi-final having won 105 of his previous 107 matches on the Parisian clay, losing only to Robin Soderling in the French Open fourth round in 2009 and Djokovic in the last eight six years ago.
He had won all 13 of his previous semi-finals but, in a 58th match between the pair that for three sets maybe surpassed any that came before, Djokovic found the answers to the greatest challenge in sport to win 3-6 6-3 7-6 (4) 6-2.
Tsitsipas, who is 5/2 to win a first grand slam, had been in imperious form over the last fortnight and that looked set to continue when he raced into a two-set lead against Alexander Zverev in their semi-final.
However, the Greek, who has won more matches than any other player in 2021, saw the German seize the momentum and turn the tables completely, winning the third and fourth sets as he threatened a repeat of last year’s US Open semi-final, when he came from two sets down to beat Pablo Carreno Busta.
Tsitsipas was 0-40 down in the opening game of the deciding set but he dug deep to hold and that proved the catalyst for a revival and a 6-3 6-3 4-6 4-6 6-3 victory.
Both players at the top of their game
Tsitsipas has now reached three finals on clay this season, winning one title and losing to Nadal in the final in Barcelona.
He did, however, suffer defeat to Djokovic in the quarter-finals in Rome despite winning the opening set.
There is a price of 1/2 for Tsitsipas to win a set, or 17/10 for him to again take the opening set of the match.
Djokovic went on to lose in the final to Nadal in Rome and then won a warm-up event in Belgrade, so both players have strong clay-court form behind them and it is 21/20 for the match to contain over 38.5 games.
Can Tsitsipas’ serve resist Djokovic’s return?
Tsitsipas holds the second highest percentage of service games won on clay on the ATP Tour this season and has taken the fifth highest percentage of points on first serve.
Djokovic has won over 44% of his return games – the third highest of any player on clay this season – although Tsitsipas has saved an ATP Tour-high 75% of break points faced.
With two evenly-matched styles, it is 3/1 for the match to go to a fifth set.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
