Wawrinka trails on odds to repeat as French Open champion

OddsSharkMay 22, 2016, 9:37 PM EDT

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After failing to get past the quarterfinals in each of his last five tournament appearances, Stan Wawrinka defends his French Open crown this week sporting +1600 odds to win the tournament at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.

Wawrinka opens this year’s French Open at Stade Roland Garros in Paris looking to rebound from a disappointing early exit at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome a week ago, falling to Juan Monaco in three sets in the Round of 16 after getting swept in straight sets by Aussie Nick Kyrgios in the Round of 32 at the Madrid Open earlier this month.

Those losses have done nothing for the 31-year-old Swiss native’s French Open odds, which had climbed as high as +650 despite getting knocked out of this year’s Australian Open in the fourth round by Canadian Milos Raonic.

Meanwhile, the world’s top-ranked player, Novak Djokovic, sits atop the French Open odds at the sportsbooks as a heavy -125 betting favorite.

Djokovic has been a dominating force at Grand Slam tournaments, winning five of the past seven, but victory has eluded him on the clay at Roland Garros where he has reached the final in three of the past four years but never emerged as champion.

Arriving in Paris on the heels of a loss to Andy Murray in the finals in Rome, Djokovic is enjoying another strong season with five tournament wins, including a record sixth Australian Open victory, topping Murray in the final in straight sets.

Murray, who owns a pair of Grand Slam titles, is a +400 bet to win his first French Open championship, closely trailing nine-time champion Rafael Nadal at +350.

With Roger Federer pulling out of the tournament late last week Kei Nishikori sits next at +2200, while Raonic and Kyrgios, who heads into the event in top form, sit well back of the favorites at +6600 odds.

On the women’s side, Serena Williams will be looking to bounce back from a surprising loss to Angelique Kerber in the Australian Open and claim her third French Open title in four years when she takes the court at Roland Garros as a strong +225 betting favorite.

The three-time French Open champ has now come up empty in her past two Grand Slam tournaments after winning four straight, but claimed victory last week in Rome in just her fourth event of the season.

Victoria Azarenka has reached the semifinals just once in nine French Open appearances but sports solid +500 odds to win the French Open, followed by Simona Halep at +600, Garbine Muguruza at +1000, and Kerber at +1600.

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.