Guest Post

The French Open begins on Saturday, and picking this year’s winner is a greater challenge than it’s been in several years. It did get a bit easier on Tuesday when Englishman Andy Murray, ranked number two in the world, withdrew from the open after treatments on his lower back proved insufficient to get him into playing condition.

Seeding aside, the draw remains wide open, making it one of the most anticipated events in many years. Fans are responding with intense demand for French Open 2013 Tickets to watch the tournament unfold. Here’s our preview of the French Open and the top players in the men’s draw.

Rafael Nadal Has Dominated at Roland Garros

Nadal has won seven of the last eight French Opens, yet he arrives at Roland Garros this year as just the third seed. A string of injuries and illnesses in the last year has seen him fall from world’s number one to as low as number five, but many experts are putting their money on him to regain his dominance on the clay in Paris beginning Saturday.

Recent wins in Rome and Madrid suggest Nadal has hit his stride just in time for Paris. Don’t be surprised if he’s playing on court Philippe Chartrier when the final match begins. To get there, it’s likely that Nadal will have to focus on putting away opponents as quickly as possible in order to save wear and tear on his knees, but that can be difficult to do on clay.

Novak Djokovic is the World Number One Ranked Player

Another intriguing player to watch is Novak Djokovic, as always. He’ll step onto the court at Roland Garros as the world’s number one ranked player and is coming off an impressive win over Nadal at Monte Carlo two weeks ago.

If anyone has motivation to break through at the French Open, it’s Djokovic, and his fans are scrambling for tennis tickets to watch him get it done. Having never won here, he is said to be highly motivated to make this the year he hoists the champion’s Coupe des Mousquetaires.

Inconsistency remains the huge question about Djokovic’s game. He’s lost in the second round in Madrid and in the quarterfinals at the Italian Open in Rome in the last month. There are concerns about his ankle too which he injured during the Davis Cup in April and seemed to tweak again in Madrid.

If Novak maintains his focus and can play through lingering discomfort in his ankle, he should make a deep run at Roland Garros and have a very good shot of playing for his first French Open title, the only Grand Slam title he doesn’t possess.

Roger Federer and Others With a Chance to Win

Don’t rule out Roger Federer, but he’s a long shot. Federer hasn’t won any of the six events he’s entered this year and hasn’t looked particularly sharp. However, the winner of 17 Grand Slam singles titles has the heart of a champion, and it wouldn’t be a huge upset if he pulled out number 18 in the 2013 French Open.

Does anyone else in the men’s draw have a chance?

If you’re looking for a dark-horse 2013 French Open champion, keep your eyes on Stanislas Wawrinka (pictured above), who plays very well on clay and Ernests Gulbis who played Nadal very tough last week at the Italian Open.

Photo credit: Marianne Bevis

The 2013 Roland Garros men’s championships mark the 116th time it will be held. The men’s singles event has been played an extra six times compared to the women’s singles event, the men began in 1891 and the women in 1897. The Roland Garros Grand Slam tournament is commonly known as the French Open and is held at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. To watch the tennis in Singapore add 6 hours to the Paris local times listed below to work out the equivalent Singapore time.

Below OnCourt Advantage details how the ATP ranking points and prize money are allocated for each round, plus what the schedule of play is for every day, so YOU can follow, watch and/or attend this tournament.

Roland Garros is the 8th MAJOR tournament of the “BIG 14″ tournaments for the men’s professional tennis tour each year. The men’s qualifying singles event begins on Tuesday 21 May and the Men’s Singles Final will be played on Sunday 9 June.

The 2013 Roland Garros women’s championships mark the 110th time it has been held and will be played at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The French Open as the Roland Garros Grand Slam tournament is also known, will take place at the same location again and ever since it switched to being played on clay courts in 1928. To watch the tennis in Singapore add 6 hours to the Paris local times listed below.

Below OnCourt Advantage details how the WTA ranking points and prize money are allocated for each round, plus what the schedule of play is for every day, so YOU can follow, watch and/or attend this tournament.

Roland Garros is the 7th MAJOR tournament of the “BIG 14″ tournaments for the women’s professional tennis tour each year. The women’s qualifying singles event begins on Tuesday 21 May and the Women’s Singles Final will be played on Saturday 8 June, one day earlier than the Men’s Singles Final.

The 2013 Roland Garros main draw women’s singles matches will begin on Sunday 26 May at 11am local time in Paris, France. Below OnCourt Advantage provides a number of interesting facts about the women’s singles main draw, including when the draw is made, how the draw works, whom all the different types of participants are and how these are selected.

The official Roland Garros main draw ceremony is being held on Friday 24 May at 11:30am. The full list of the women’s singles draw will be added here-> Roland Garros 2013 Women’s Singles Draw: 1st Round as it happens. To watch Roland Garros tennis in Singapore add 6 hours to the local time in Paris to get the equivalent Singapore time.

The women’s singles draw has a 128-player draw consisting of 12 Qualifiers, 8 Wildcards and 108 Direct Acceptances of whom 32 become The Seeds. The direct acceptances are the highest 108 ranked players in the world at the cut-off date who are fit enough to compete. The cut-off date is six weeks prior to the main draw commencing i.e. 15 April 2013.

When a main draw direct acceptance withdraws from Roland Garros after the first round of qualifying has been completed, that available spot in the draw is awarded to a lucky loser.

Any player that loses in the final round of qualifying and then signs-in for the singles main draw is eligible to receive a lucky loser spot into the main draw. The lucky loser spots are awarded in order of highest ranked player to the lowest, hence the term, despite losing they are lucky to still compete in the main draw.

The Seeds:

A seeding is allocated to the 32 highest ranked players according to the latest WTA rankings before the draw is made i.e. Monday 20 May 2013. There are 32 seeded players in a 128-player sized draw and they are separated in the draw so that they play two rounds against lower ranked opponents (unseeded players), before they meet another seed in the 3rd round.

If any of the seeded players withdraw after the draw has been made, then the 33rd highest ranked player becomes a seed, then the 34th player and so on.

The seeded players do not receive a BYE in the 1st round of a Grand Slam event. To win the title any player must win 7 main draw best of 3-set matches in a row. Full details about who the seeds will be and what number each player is seeded BEFORE it is even officially announced will be covered here-> Roland Garros 2013 Women’s Seeds.

The Wildcards:

All of the 8 wildcard recipients will be confirmed before Monday 20 May as the qualifying singles event will be drawn that day. The names of the wildcards must be removed from the participating players list in the qualifying singles event before the official draw commences.

The wildcards are selected by the French Tennis Federation, who usually select six French players. The final two wildcards go to an American and an Australian due to a reciprocal wildcard arrangement between the US Open, Australian Open and Roland Garros.

Full details about the latest announcements and who each wildcard recipient is, will be covered here-> Roland Garros 2013 Women’s Wildcards.

The Qualifiers:

The 96-player qualifying tournament will begin on Tuesday 21 May and run through to Friday 24 May.

Full details about how the qualifying draw works, who the 24 seeds and 8 wildcards are, what prize money and ranking points qualifying players earn is covered here-> Roland Garros 2013 Women’s Singles Draw: Qualifying.

The full list of the women’s qualifying singles draw will be added here-> Roland Garros 2013 Women’s Singles Draw: Qualifying 1st Round as it happens.

© photo credit: Babolat follow @Babolat on Twitter

First published 17 March 2013

The 2013 Roland Garros main draw men’s singles matches will begin on Sunday 26 May at 11am local time in Paris, France. Below OnCourt Advantage provides a number of interesting facts about the men’s singles main draw, including when the draw is made, how the draw works, whom all the different types of participants are and how these are selected.

The official Roland Garros main draw ceremony is being held on Friday 24 May at 11:30am. The full list of the men’s singles draw will be added here-> Roland Garros 2013 Men’s Singles Draw: 1st Round as it happens. To watch Roland Garros tennis in Singapore add 6 hours to the local time in Paris to get the equivalent Singapore time.

The men’s singles draw has a 128-player draw consisting of 16 Qualifiers, 8 Wildcards and 104 Direct Acceptances of whom 32 become The Seeds. The direct acceptances are the highest 104 ranked players in the world at the cut-off date who are fit enough to compete. The cut-off date is six weeks prior to the main draw commencing i.e. 15 April 2013.

When a main draw direct acceptance withdraws from Roland Garros after the first round of qualifying has been completed, that available spot in the draw is awarded to a lucky loser.

Any player that loses in the final round of qualifying and then signs-in for the singles main draw is eligible to receive a lucky loser spot into the main draw. The lucky loser spots are awarded in order of highest ranked player to the lowest, hence the term, despite losing they are lucky to still compete in the main draw.

The Seeds:

A seeding is allocated to the 32 highest ranked players according to the latest ATP Tour rankings before the draw is made i.e. Monday 20 May 2013. There are 32 seeded players in a 128-player sized draw and they are separated in the draw so that they play two rounds against lower ranked opponents (unseeded players), before they meet another seed in the 3rd round.

If any of the seeded players withdraw after the draw has been made, then the 33rd highest ranked player becomes a seed, then the 34th player and so on.

The seeded players do not receive a BYE in the 1st round of a Grand Slam event. To win the title any player must win 7 main draw best of 5-set matches in a row. Full details about who the seeds will be and what number each player is seeded BEFORE it is even officially announced will be covered here-> Roland Garros 2013 Men’s Seeds.

The Wildcards:

All of the 8 wildcard recipients will be confirmed before Monday 20 May as the qualifying singles event will be drawn that day. The names of the wildcards must be removed from the participating players list in the qualifying singles event before the official draw commences.

The wildcards are selected by the French Tennis Federation, who usually select six French players. The final two wildcards go to an American and an Australian due to a reciprocal wildcard arrangement between the US Open, Australian Open and Roland Garros.

Full details about the latest announcements and who each wildcard recipient is, will be covered here-> Roland Garros 2013 Men’s Wildcards.

The Qualifiers:

The 128-player qualifying tournament will begin on Tuesday 21 May and run through to Friday 24 May.

Full details about how the qualifying draw works, who the seeds and wildcards are, what prize money and ranking points qualifying players earn is covered here-> Roland Garros 2013 Men’s Singles Draw: Qualifying.

The full list of the men’s qualifying singles draw will be added here-> Roland Garros 2013 Men’s Singles Draw: Qualifying 1st Round as it happens.

Photo credit: mbevis

First published 17 March 2013

The French Open is the second Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year and is just a few weeks away. Bookmakers cannot see anyone other than Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic lifting aloft the Coupe des Mousquetaires (pictured above) at Roland Garros this year.

At the conclusion of April, Nadal and Djokovic sported identical men’s singles records for the year of 26 wins and two losses. Nadal’s defeats were against the Serb and Horacio Zeballos, whilst Juan Martin Del Potro and Tommy Haas inflicted Djokovic’s losses. Little wonder then that bookmakers are almost inviting French Open punters to nominate their own odds about any other male player.

Any discussion of the 2013 French Open men’s singles has to begin with Nadal since the Spaniard has won the title seven times and his career Roland Garros record is 52 wins and one losses. Robin Soderling is the only man to have beaten Nadal at Roland Garros, the Swede beating the Spaniard 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) in the fourth round in 2009. Soderling went on to reach the final, which he lost to the great Roger Federer.

But quite how Nadal is the 2013 French Open men’s singles favourite ahead of Djokovic is bewildering, particularly given the result of the recent Monte Carlo Masters match between the superstars. Djokovic beat Nadal 6-2, 7-6 (7-1), the Serb converting five of his 12 break points and murdering the Spaniard whenever he received his second service winning 69% of points when Nadal played a second serve with Rafa only able to win 7 points for the match when he missed his first serve.

It is not only the bare scoreline but also the manner of Nadal’s loss to Djokovic that should dissuade anyone from backing the Spaniard to win his eighth French Open men’s singles crown at odds of around evens. Nadal was exhausted by the end of the 112-minute clash, which does not bode well for his chances of winning a Grand Slam event requiring 7 straight victories in the long best-of-five-set match format.

Djovokic is trading at odds of around 8-5 to win his first French Open men’s singles title and become the eighth player to win all four men’s Grand Slam singles titles. Fred Perry (1935) was the first, followed by Don Budge (1938), Rod Laver (1962), Roy Emerson (1964), Andrew Agassi (1999), Federer (2009) and Nadal (2010) – that is one extremely illustrious list.

There are no question marks regarding Djokovic’s fitness – most tennis analysts would say that he is the fittest man on the ATP Tour – and his Monte Carlo Masters defeat of Nadal was comprehensive. Also, Djokovic has won three of his last six clay-court clashes with Nadal and had his chances to win last year’s French Open men’s singles decider.

With there being a decent chance that Nadal and Djokovic will end up in the same half of the 2013 French Open men’s singles draw, now is a good time to have a speculative bet on one of the outsiders with a view to trading it as the tournament progresses. Clay is David Ferrer’s preferred surface so he appeals at generally available odds of 33-1.

Serena Williams is the 2013 French Open women’s singles favourite as the World No.1, 15-time Grand Slam singles champion and currently sporting a 25-2 win-loss record this year. If the American brings her best game to Paris, she will take a lot of beating.

But Williams does not love playing on clay and her Roland Garros record – one title all the way back in 2002 since her first appearance in 1998 – is terrible in comparison to her record at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

It has been 11 years since Williams lifted aloft the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen and since then has progressed to the semi finals on just one occasion – in 2003. Consequently, 2013 French Open women’s singles punters should be looking to oppose the favourite. Neither Victoria Azarenka nor Maria Sharapova appeal at their respective odds of around 9-2 and 5-1 respectively based on Azarenka never reaching the semi finals and Sharapova’s one final in her 10 years of bids for the women’s singles title.

If one has an account with a betting exchange, one could simply lay Williams, Azarenka and Sharapova. However, if one is looking to back one or more 2013 French Open women’s singles competitors, Li Na is interesting at odds of around 10-1 having won the 2011 edition and taken part in the 2013 Australian Open final four months ago. Added to this, if you bet on your mobile you can claim a first time bonus bet, (applies to all customers not just new accounts) and enhance the EV of the bet. In other words, you are betting on a profitable bet with free money.

Other 2013 French Open women’s singles outsiders to consider include the Italians – Sara Errani at odds of around 28-1 and Francesca Schiavone at odds of around 150-1. They love clay and could trade at much, much lower prices in play.

© photo courtesy of Babolat follow @Babolat on Twitter.

First published 1 May 2013

The 2013 Roland Garros tennis championships are the second of only four Grand Slam tournaments held each year. Roland Garros is also known as “The French Open” and has been held at it’s current location since 1928 and is the only Grand Slam played on clay courts. Roland Garros is run by the French Tennis Federation (FFT i.e. Fédération Française de Tennis) and is held at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France.

Click this link for information on how to buy your Official 2013 Roland Garros tennis tickets. I encourage you to “Follow” Roland Garros on Twitter like I do, the official handle is @RolandGarros and the official 2013 hashtag is #RG13. Please “Like” the official Roland Garros Facebook page just as I do by pasting http://www.facebook.com/RolandGarros into your address bar then click “Like” once you are there.

This tournament is one of the “BIG 14″ MAJOR prestigious events for both the men and the women. The 2013 edition of Roland Garros run from the first day of qualifying on Tuesday 21 May through to the Gentlemen’s Singles Final on Sunday 9 June.

The 2012 women’s singles champion was Maria SHARAPOVA who defeated Sara ERRANI in the final 6-3, 6-2 to win 2,000 WTA ranking points. The 2012 singles champion was Rafael NADAL who defeated Novak DJOKOVIC in the final 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 to win 2,000 ATP ranking points.

This page was created to make it easier for YOU to find the information that YOU are looking for on OnCourt Advantage. All of the OnCourt Advantage web pages related to Roland Garros 2013 are listed below and all future Roland Garros coverage will be continually updated on this directory page. All coverage of the Roland Garros in previous years is listed in these directory pages-> Roland Garros 2012, Roland Garros 2011 and Roland Garros 2010.

1. Roland Garros 2013 Bookmakers Favourites
2. Roland Garros 2013 Women’s Singles Draw
3. Roland Garros 2013 Men’s Singles Draw
4. Roland Garros 2013 Women’s Schedule of Play
5. Roland Garros 2013 Men’s Schedule of Play
6. 2013 Grand Slam Tournaments

Photo credit: Carine06

First published 11 December 2012