As we continue to draw closers to the French Open, the second major of the year, the men and women on the ATP and WTA Tours will be playing a ton on clay courts. The Madrid Open is the last really good tune-up for the trip to Roland Garros, as most won't bother playing after this week to get their bodies right for the two-week marathon in Paris.
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ODDS ANALYSIS
On the men's side of this tournament, it's clear that you're going to see all of the usual suspects at the top. All five of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Stanislav Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal will be playing in this tournament, and it would take a brave man to pick anyone to win aside from these five.
Djokovic will be the favorite, but clay courts aren't his favorite. Nadal will probably be the second choice, but because of his presence, the odds to win this tournament will be tightly knit together.
The women's side of this draw isn't as cut and dry. Because Serena Williams isn't playing in Madrid, there isn't an obvious choice to win the tournament. Spain's Garbine Muguruza and Germany's Angelique Kerber are going to be amongst the favorites, and top-seed Agnieszka Radwanska will surely be in the discussion as well, but none of these women will be anything better than 7 to 1 to win this tournament at its outset.
A LOOK BACK
Murray doesn't really have any sort of history winning these clay court tournaments, but he did so at the Madrid Open last year. He didn't drop a single set in the tournament, including sweeping through all three of Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori and Nadal, three very tough players no matter the surface.
Of course, it should be noted that Djokovic didn't play in Madrid last year, while top-seeded Federer was shockingly bounced in his first match against Nick Kyrgios 6-7 (6-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (14-12) in a match which is about as close as you can get.
As is always the case in these WTA events, there were upsets all over the board at the Madrid Open. Sure, four of the top five seeds reached the quarterfinals, but Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the final as an unseeded player.
Petra Kvitova had the last laugh though, as she was the one to knock out Williams in the semifinals and ultimately breezed to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Kuzy in the final.
PLAYERS TO BET
Rafael Nadal – Not surprisingly, with clay court season comes Nadal's best chance to win major events. He won the ATP Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and the ATP Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in consecutive weeks, picking up a perfect 10-0 mark along the way. Granted, none of the other top dogs made the trek to Barcelona to play in that tournament, but wins are wins, and he did dismissed four ranked players along the way in Monte Carlo the week prior. Nadal is hot for sure, and we never recommend betting against him on clay.
Sloane Stephens – The American is ranked in this year's Madrid Open at No. 16, and we think she could be in for a nice run on clay. She's already won three events this season, albeit none of which are nearly as important as this one, and she seems to be over the opening match losses to Eugenie Bouchard and Heather Watson in the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open in consecutive weeks. The last time Stephens was on the court, she won the Volvo Cars Open Cup, a tournament in which she beat Kerber and Elena Vesnina to win.
PLAYERS TO FADE
Roger Federer – This is more common sense than anything else. Fed was knocked out in the quarterfinals at the Monte-Carlo Masters, and he had the early exit here last year in this tournament as well. Federer did win this event in 2012, but he was a third round knockout in 2013 and didn't play in 2014. We can't see him reaching the semis this year either.
Agnieszka Radwanska – Radwanska hasn't been a finalist in a tournament this year since winning the Shenzhen Open, and we have no reason to trust her here either. She hasn't played well on clay for the most part, and being a semifinalist at the Stuttgart Open doesn't do it for us.
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Don't miss out on getting paid because you couldn't bet. Click here, and deposit at BookMaker now! The Madrid Open will begin on Monday, May 2, 2016 and continue through the finals on Sunday, May 8, 2016 at Park Manzanares in Madrid. Live matches will be seen throughout the tourney on the Tennis Channel and the ESPN family of networks.
