The road to his French Open title No. 12 starts this Sunday for Rafael Nadal, who will be facing 27-year-old Yannick Hanfmann. Nadal is expected to go deep in the tournament, as he is, after all, the favorite to win the 2019 French Open with a price of +105 to do it. Read on for a preview of this looming David vs. Goliath matchup.
Hanfmann has to go through the King of Clay right out of the gate at Roland Garros. Hanfmann, who is fresh of the French Open qualifiers. Although this matchup seems like Hanfmann is being thrown to a lion’s pit with mean strapped around his body, he can draw confidence from his performance in the qualifiers in which he did not drop a single set in three matches. He beat Constant Lestienne, Sebastian Ofner, and Lukas Rosol in succession. Hanfmann has a 7-8 career record in ATP clay matches and just 0-1 overall in Grand Slam outings. He flunked out of the first round of last year’s US Open and did not participate in the 2019 Australian Open. Against Rosol, Hanfmann flashed some power with seven aces against zero by his opponent. He also put 76 percent of his first serves in and scored 25 off of them .
Betting on the Rafael Nadal (-8000)
Nadal needs no introduction, but he’ll always deserve being showered by praises. Ranked No. 2 in the world, Nadal showed how ready he is for 2019 French Open, when he dominated the competition at the recently concluded Rome Masters. He took down Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals and defeated rival Novak Djokovic in the finals to the tune of a 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 score. By his standards, Nadal isn’t having a great year with only one title to date, but the important thing is that he’s rounded into form just in time for the French Open. His losses to Tsitsipas in Madrid and to Fabio Fognini in Monte Carlo are now firmly behind Nadal, who, barring an injury or any other disaster, should walk past through Hanfmann’s challenge like it’s a silk curtain. Just how dominant Nadal is on clay? Let’s just say he is 429-39 on the surface in his career. He is 14-3 on it this year.
