The First Round has been completed at the French Open over three days and the weather has been pretty glorious in Paris, although perhaps a little windy at times for the players.
Things don't look very favourable in the days ahead, although the roof on the main show court at Roland Garros will mean the Tennis is not going to be completely erased by the weather. On Wednesday there does look like being plenty of wet weather in the Roland Garros area and that may mean delays and possibly some of the Second Round matches scheduled being pushed until Day 5.
At this stage of the tournament you would like to see the tournament stay on schedule with the bottom halves of both draws ready to take centre stage, but it looks like being a stop-start kind of day in the French capital.
Alexander Zverev - 8.5 games v Roman Safiullin: While it can't be seen as a steadfast rule for Grand Slam Tennis success in the Men's side of the tournament, I think it is telling that so many of the multiple Champions of years gone by have spoken of the need to get through the first week with as little fuss as possible. For me it is especially the case at the French Open where matches can become very long and sap all energy before the second week arrives for players.
The second week is when the competitive ramps up considerably and you want to be able to perform at your very best when those matches come around and that means not wasting unnecessary energy early in the event. Alexander Zverev may be one of the top Seeds here, but he is going to want to make lighter work of this Second Round match after needing to fight back from 0-2 down in sets to win his first match in Paris.
To be fair to Zverev, he did waltz through the last three sets and actually spent a little under three hours on the court which should not really affect a 24 year old player. And it has been a very good clay court season to this point for Alexander Zverev which will make him believe there is plenty more to come as he gets set to take on a Qualifier in the Second Round.
Roman Safiullin is just four months younger than his opponent, but he has yet to crack the top 150 in the World Rankings and bridging the gap to someone like Alexander Zverev will be a difficult challenge for the Russian player. The four wins in Paris will have given Safiullin a lot of confidence in his game, but it is a surprising run considering he had lost all four clay court matches played in 2021 and all of those to players Ranked outside the top 100.
In saying that, the highest Ranked player Roman Safiullin has played at Roland Garros is Number 126 and Alexander Zverev sits 120 places further up the World Rankings. The Russian player has struggled to look after his serve before this week and that has put a lot of pressure on what has been a pretty average return game on the clay courts and I expect Alexander Zverev to win this match in much more routine fashion than his First Round win over compatriot Oscar Otte.
Last year Roman Safiullin did take a set from Stan Wawrinka on the clay courts, but he won just two games in the other two sets competed that day and I think there will be a couple of strong run of games in favour of Alexander Zverev in this match. The First Round should just have been an eye-opening experience for the top ten Ranked player and I expect him to look to make life as easy as possible in this one with a much more focused display.
Stefanos Tsitsipas - 8.5 games v Pedro Martinez: The moment the draw was made for the French Open you had to feel that Stefanos Tsitsipas was going to be in a strong position to make the Final of a Grand Slam for the first time. He has been a Semi Finalist at both the Australian Open and here at the French Open, but the draw looked like being a kind one for him.
While the Greek player was getting through his First Round match relatively comfortably, the likes of Alexander Zverev had to fight back from 0-2 down to earn his place in the Second Round while Dominic Thiem blew a 2-0 lead against Pablo Andujar and exited. That defeat in particular will have strengthened the belief of the fans behind Stefanos Tsitsipas that he is ready to produce a run through to the Final in Paris as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer sit on the other side of the bracket.
Stefanos Tsitsipas cannot afford to get too far ahead of himself and the performance against Jeremy Chardy in the First Round will be really encouraging. He has had another strong clay court season and the improvement in his return numbers have paid off for Tsitsipas, although he will know this is a tougher test than the layers may believe in the Second Round.
He will be taking on 24 year old Pedro Martinez who is very comfortable on the clay courts and fresh off a revenge win over Sebastian Korda who upset the Spaniard in Paris last season. Like many from his nation, Martinez is very happy playing on the red dirt but it has been a slightly mixed season for him on the clay courts and he has dropped out of the top 100 in the World Rankings.
The serve is going to be the key weapon for Pedro Martinez and he has been holding 80% of service games played on the clay in main ATP matches in 2021. That is an improvement on the 2020 numbers, although it should also be pointed out that Martinez has only played three players Ranked in the top 50 and the highest of those was Alexander Bublik at Number 43.
This is a completely different level though and Pedro Martinez will know that- he is not only playing a top ten Ranked player for only the second time in his career, but one that is very comfortable on the clay courts. Stefanos Tsitsipas is capable of building some real pressure with his strong serve, one that is about as good as any player's on the clay courts, and that has led to him breaking in 31% of return games played on this surface in 2021.
Stefanos Tsitsipas still has work to do with his return on the faster surfaces, but over the last couple of years he has definitely showed it is an aspect of his game which is working pretty well on the clay courts. It has led to plenty of pretty comfortable wins on the clay in 2021 too and I think he will find the breaks of serve to wear down Pedro Martinez in this Second Round match on what could be a wetter day in Paris than we have seen so far.
Daniil Medvedev - 5.5 games v Tommy Paul: The dislike for playing on any clay court has been made clear by Daniil Medvedev, but his strong performance in the First Round at Roland Garros has to be encouraging. No one should be rushing out to back Medvedev to win the title here after seeing him beat Alexander Bublik, but it was a good solid win for a player that has a disdain for this surface.
Mentally it was a big win for Daniil Medvedev who had suffered First Round defeats in all four previous visits to Roland Garros and he certainly has the game to back it up. There is a learning curve to producing on the clay courts, but much is about the movement and I do think this is a surface that will be one in which the Russian does enjoy successes going forward.
The conditions in Paris look to be suiting Daniil Medvedev too and he was certainly more positive about his chances in the pre-tournament press conferences than may have been expected of someone holding a 0-4 record at the French Open. The bounce seems to be quite considerable and that should allow Medvedev to really get on top of the groundstrokes, while you would recommend him using his big first serve to set up points like he might try on a hard court rather than overcomplicating things in his mind.
He will be facing a decent clay courter in Tommy Paul, but not one that should intimidate Daniil Medvedev all things considered. Tommy Paul has a 9-6 record on the clay courts in 2021 and his numbers are decent enough, although there is nothing overwhelming about them.
The American has the added issue of being forced to not only play five sets in the First Round, but needing to put in a lot of emotional and physical effort in winning the final set 10-8 on his way through to this match. Tommy Paul blew a 2-0 lead in sets in that match against Christopher O'Connell and needed over three and a half hours on the court to finally get the victory pushed over the line.
Add in the fact that Tommy Paul has struggled when facing top 50 Ranked players on the clay courts this season and his numbers have taken a considerable hit in those matches and I do think Daniil Medvedev can double his win total in this part of Paris. The draw doesn't look the worst for Medvedev to earn his place in the second week of this Grand Slam for the first time either, but he has to stay focused one match at a time and I think the win in the First Round will certainly spark some confidence in his level.
MY PICKS: Alexander Zverev - 8.5 Games @ 1.75 Coral (2 Units)
Stefanos Tsitsipas - 8.5 Games @ 1.66 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Daniil Medvedev - 5.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina - 6.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)
Roberto Bautista Agut - 8.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Kei Nishikori @ 2.10 Bet365 (2 Units)
Guido Pella - 1.5 Sets @ 1.80 Bet Fred (2 Units)
John Isner @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Pablo Carreno Busta - 8.5 Games @ 1.85 Coral (2 Units)
Marketa Vondrousova - 4.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Caroline Garcia - 3.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Victoria Azarenka - 3.5 Games @ 2.00 Paddy Power (2 Units)
French Open Update: 11-10, - 0.38 Units (42 Units Staked, - 1% Yield)
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