We are just two days away from the draw for the second Grand Slam of the season, but the big news ahead of that is the fact that Andy Murray will not be taking part in Paris.
It is clear that he has been suffering from some sort of hip/lower back pain and I guess this will make a lot of sense going forward as Murray doesn't have a great chance of winning at Roland Garros. That is not disrespecting how good a player Murray is, but it is simply the fact that too many players could find a way past him in my opinion and he is serving himself very well by getting ready for Wimbledon and the US Open later this year.
I do think that if we were heading into Wimbledon, Murray would have found a way to take his place in the draw so I don't have concerns that he will miss the grass court season. However, it is very likely that he will be the Number 3 seed at Wimbledon and that will likely mean beating two of the big three in the Men's game to end the long British wait for a home winner.
That is a tough ask, but something that Murray will feel he is capable of doing if he can get his rest ahead of the grass court season which will begin on June 10th. The next question has to be if Murray will go back to Queens where he is scheduled to open up his grass preparation and we will then get an idea as to how he is feeling ahead of Wimbledon.
In the meantime, there are a lot of qualifiers going on at Roland Garros in the next few days as players get ready to enter the main draw. Hopefully the rain will stay away from Paris in the coming two weeks, although it has been cold and wet forecasts for the rest of the week.
Aljaz Bedene v Tobias Kamke: Aljaz Bedene entered the main draw as a Lucky Loser and has opened up the tournament for himself by knocking out Nikolay Davydenko in the First Round yesterday. He is rewarded with a much more winnable match in the Second Round as he faces one of the home players in Tobias Kamke, a winner over Benjamin Becker in the previous Round.
Neither player has had a lot of success in the main level tournaments on the clay courts, although Bedene recently won a Challenger event in Rome and has more wins on the surface at the lower level than Kamke does.
I believe Bedene has the better serve of the two players, but both can be very inconsistent with their play off the ground and this could come down to the player making the least errors that secures the win.
Using the success in Rome last week, I think Bedene can win this one, possibly in three sets.
Tommy Haas - 4.5 games v Ivan Dodig: The slower courts don't favour the game that Ivan Dodig produces and I think Tommy Haas can come through this Second Round match without too many problems as long as he is taking the tournament seriously.
I have little reason to think that Haas wouldn't want to play well in front of his home support and having a run here ahead of the French Open wouldn't be a bad thing for the veteran. He is unlikely to win at Roland Garros, but the chance to improve his Ranking for Wimbledon has to be in Haas' mind, a tournament he can certainly have a lot more success.
We know that Dodig has a big serve and can certainly hit through the court with his forehand, but the slower courts means his errors can begin to flow at times and I think he is another player that will begin to look forward to the grass court season which begins in three weeks time.
The Croatian had a solid win in the First Round here, but a focused Haas should be able to come through 64 63.
MY PICKS: Aljaz Bedene @ 1.80 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Tommy Haas - 4.5 Games @ 1.95 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Weekly Update: 1-3, - 4.30 Units (8 Units Staked, - 53.75% Yield)
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