Updated on: October 4th, 2024
The French Open is one of the most exciting Grand Slam events on the professional tennis calendar. Each year, the best players in the game converge on the Stade Roland Garros in Paris to find out who are the best men’s and women’s clay-court tennis players.
As with all major tennis tournaments, French Open odds are seen as a lucrative opportunity due to a handful of talented players dominating the game at the moment. If you follow tennis religiously, you will know that your best bet for a future on the men’s singles tournament is the King of Clay – Rafael Nadal. He has won the title 12 times in the last 15 years.
But there is a lot more to French Open odds and tennis betting overall than just futures. There are loads of opportunities to make big money on the sport’s biggest names. Perhaps, you think that Novak Djokovic will take the next set in his current game? Or, maybe you think that Serena Williams will win her next serve?
There are loads of French Open betting options available to you at the best online sports betting sites, especially when you look into live betting.
So, if you are keen to find out more about French Open odds, stick around. Below we go through all you need to know about betting on this prestigious tournament, including bet types, how to read odds, and tips to keep in mind.
We also list online gambling sites with the best tennis betting odds so that you can get the best deal on any tennis tournament you choose to bet on.
Bet on the French Open Here
Popular French Open Betting Lines
Here are all the most popular French Open betting lines you will find at sportsbooks on the web:
Match Winner or Moneyline
Match winner bets (also known as moneylines in other sports) are exactly what the name implies; wagers on which player you think will win a match.
Despite popular belief, match winner bets can be profitable in tennis. However, not if you bet on games involving high-ranked players, such as Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka, or Ashleigh Barty, against players who have just broken the top 100 in rankings.
Match winner bets are a great option if there are two evenly-matched opponents involved in-game. However, if there aren’t, you may want to look at spread bets.
Spread Betting
With spread lines, the sportsbook crunches some numbers and declares a favorite and an underdog in a match. They provide a scoreline they expect the favorite to win by/underdog to lose by.
You can then bet on whether either the favorite or underdog will beat this line. All of this may seem a bit confusing, so let us explain it with an example.
Imagine you visit a sportsbook and see the following line on offer:
Dominic Thiem -10.5 -117
Ričardas Berankis +10.5 -103
Thiem is expected to win this game. We can see this by looking at the minus next to the score next to his name – the “-10.5”. The line says that for a spread bet on him to be successful, he needs to win by more than ten games. But for a wager on Berankis to be successful, he needs to lose by less than a 10-game differential.
Set Betting
In other sports, set betting is often referred to as totals. Essentially, you are betting on the number of sets that will be played in a game. Some sportsbooks focus on games rather than sets to make it slightly more interesting.
Basically, with set betting, you bet on how many sets/games will be played. The sportsbooks will set lines, and then you bet that the number will come over or under the sportsbook’s prediction.
Futures
Futures are outright bets where you wager on a player to win the French Open title before the final is reached. For example, betting on the winner of the tournament at the start of the year.
In other sports, futures offer favorable odds. But in tennis, futures aren’t always so fruitful. This is because there are only a handful of really great players in the sport at the moment.
For example, futures on Rafael Nadal to win the French Open almost always start as unfavorable odds. That’s how sure sportsbooks are that he will probably win.
So, be very careful when placing these bets, make sure the odds are worth it. Or, else, you may land up losing a lot of money for no good reason.
Props
Do you think that Novak Djokovic will hit an official in his French Open semi-final? Well, some sportsbooks will allow you to bet on such. This is known as a prop bet. Props are all the wagers that aren’t based on the outcome of a game.
So, for example, many sportsbooks that offer live betting services will allow you to bet on a player’s next serve. You can bet on which player will win that one serve – the overall outcome of the game is irrelevant.
You should be careful with how many props you place. They are tempting, but often these are the types of bets that are based on true chance.
How to Read French Open Odds
Odds usually seem intimidating to people who have never placed a sports bet before. However, they’re relatively straightforward.
There are three types of odds: American, Fractional, and Decimal. We will be explaining American (or moneyline) here because most of our recommended sportsbooks default to this type. But you can learn about the other two on our dedicated sports betting odds page.
So, when you visit a sportsbook with moneyline odds, lines will appear as such:
Cori Gauff -293
Martina Trevisan +248
In this line, you should focus on the symbol next to the number next to each name. A plus usually denotes an underdog, and a minus a favorite. However, there are cases in which both options could have minuses or pluses.
So, in our hypothetical line, Gauff is expected to win. The number also suggests that she is a big favorite. We can tell this by how much you could win by using the formulas listed below as a means to calculate the winnings for your stake:
- Positive – Odds x (Stake/100)
- Negative – (100/Odds) x Stake
If you are wondering, in this line, a $100 bet on Gauff will win you $34. However, the same bet on Trevisan would earn you $248.
French Open Betting Tips
As previously mentioned, the French Open is played on a clay court, making it a little different from the other Grand Slams. Thus, there are few special tips to betting on the French Open that you need to keep in mind, including:
Don’t Focus on Rankings
The winner of the French Open usually isn’t ranked world number one. This doesn’t mean that we think anyone can win the tournament, but if you are betting on Novak Djokovic to win because he is ranked number one at the moment, you might be disappointed.
This information is probably more important if you are betting on the women’s tournament, though.
Focus on Madrid Open and Italian Open Winners
Look at the results of other European tournaments, such as the Madrid Open or the Italian Open, when making a future prediction.
Although these tournaments aren’t as famous as the Australian Open or Wimbledon, both are also played on clay and are more representative of what the French Open conclusion will look like.
Focus on Form
With regards to French Open Women’s odds, predicting a winner is difficult as the tournament has seen so many winners over the last twenty years. Ultimately, we recommend analyzing the form of the best players going into the tournament when making a prediction.
French Open Champions
Here are the last ten winners of the French Open in both the men’s and women’s singles tournaments:
Men’s Singles Tournament
| Year | Winner |
| 2010 | Rafael Nadal |
| 2011 | Rafael Nadal |
| 2012 | Rafael Nadal |
| 2013 | Rafael Nadal |
| 2014 | Rafael Nadal |
| 2015 | Stan Wawrinka |
| 2016 | Novak Djokovic |
| 2017 | Rafael Nadal |
| 2018 | Rafael Nadal |
| 2019 | Rafael Nadal |
Women’s Singles Tournament
| Year | Winner |
| 2010 | Francesca Schiavone |
| 2011 | Li Na |
| 2012 | Maria Sharapova |
| 2013 | Serena Williams |
| 2014 | Maria Sharapova |
| 2015 | Serena Williams |
| 2016 | Garbiñe Muguruza |
| 2017 | Jeļena Ostapenko |
| 2018 | Simona Halep |
| 2019 | Ashleigh Barty |
French Open Betting – FAQs
Who is the only player to win French Open eight times?
Rafael Nadal is the only player to win a Grand Slam eight times. He has won the French Open twelve times in total.
The total purse for the French Open in 2020 is €38,000,000. This is a decrease from the previous year, which had a purse of €42,661,000. The reason for the decline may be due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Roland Garros is another name for the French Open. The name comes from the stadium that the tournament is played at.
Martina Hingis is the youngest person to have won a Grand Slam after winning the Australian Open at age 16.
Clay courts are the slowest tennis surface.
The average ticket for a French Open game is $399.
