By Antony Jordan
The 2017 French Open comes to a close this weekend with the men’s final at Roland Garros between Stanislas Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal. Both of these players are vastly experienced and have accumulated ten French Open titles between them so this final promises to be a thrilling conclusion to the 2017 French Open, but where is the best betting value?
We preview this clash of the players ranked third and fourth in the world with online sportsbook Bet365.com to provide our best 2017 French Open Final picks.
ATP French Open Final Odds:
Wawrinka:
The 2015 French Open champion and three time Grand Slam winner, Stanislas Wawrinka arrives into this second ever final at Roland Garros having impressed throughout the tournament so far. He has seen off four seeded players, including home favourite Gael Monfils, and he has only dropped two sets on his way to this deciding match. Both of these sets were lost in the final four stage against world number one Andy Murray as the Scot almost booked his own place in the final, but the Swiss world number three progressed 6-7, 6-3,5-7, 7-6, 6-1 to gain revenge for a loss to Murray at the Semi Final stage of this competition last year.
Wawrinka has been all but untouchable at Roland Garros so far and this is a surprise following two early exits in Madrid and Rome in the build up to this second Grand Slam of the year. However, following these defeats Wawrinka entered the tournament in Geneva and claimed this title in his homeland. This victory has certainly boosted him, now can he continue his 100% record of winning in Grand Slam finals?
Nadal:
Although he has not won the title at Roland Garros since 2014, Rafael Nadal is still the king of these courts as he lost just one match between 2005 and 2014 as he claimed nine French Open titles in ten appearances. The last two years have seen a Quarter Final loss to Novak Djokovic and a retirement, but with the Spaniard making the final of the Australian Open – his first Grand Slam final since he last won the French Open in 2014 – things are looking up for the world number four.
Bet365.com certainly believe in him and with no sets (and a total of just 29 games) lost in his six matches on the way to this decider it is hard to believe that this form will be overturned this Sunday. In addition to this, he has been in superb clay court form in 2017 with wins in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid in the build up to this Grand Slam event seeing him full of confidence.
Head-to-Head:
The 2017 French Open Final will be the 19th occasion that these two players have clashed on court and it is Nadal who has had the better of things in their ten years of meetings. The Spaniard has won 15 of the previous 18 meetings between the players, including five of the six meetings on clay. They have not clashed in a year since Nadal triumphed 6-1, 6-4 at the Monte Carlo Masters, but with Nadal’s excellent Roland Garros record against Wawrinka’s flawless Grand Slam Final record this match could easily be the pick of the bunch.
Analysis:
Conventional thinking backs a Nadal victory in the 2017 French Open Final, just as Bet365.com suggest, and we are not backing against this thanks to Nadal’s recent form and his clay court record. However, there is zero value in just backing him to win this match and with Wawrinka more than capable of upsetting these odds we have looked elsewhere for betting value on this clash. Even though Nadal is yet to drop a set on his way to this final, Wawrinka had done the same until the final four stage and we can see the two styles of these players clashing and providing a spectacle that runs into at least four sets this Sunday, so our best bet of the 2017 French Open Final is on the number of sets to be played at Roland Garros in this clash.