French Open 2023 betting preview – tips for betting on Roland Garros

LEGENDS have been made on the famous clay courts of Roland Garros but who will emerge as champions at the 2023 French Open?

The second Grand Slam tournament of the season gets underway in Paris on May 28 and lasts until June 11.

Here, we’ll guide you through betting on the event – from free-bet offers and available markets to how to actually place your bets and the best research techniques.

Let’s first take a look at the top French Open betting sites:

Best betting sites to bet on the French Open 2023

1. BetUK
2. bet365
3. Rhino.Bet
4. Ladbrokes
5. Coral
6. Unibet
7. 10bet
8. Spreadex
9. William Hill
10. Betway

What bets can I place on the French Open?

Outright winner

In this market, you are betting on which player will win the tournament. In the French Open, there will be outright markets for both the men’s singles and women’s singles.

Quarter winner

A market which focus on a particular quarter of the draw. Essentially the bet here is on which player of those listed will reach the semi-finals. This is a good market to bet on if you feel a player will go deep in the draw but fall short at the business end of the tournament.

Match winner

You are betting on which of the two players wins the match in question. This is the most popular tennis betting market and at the French Open these will generate big turnover given there will be 127 matches in each singles draw. Punters can also combine match outcomes into a multiple bet which predicts the winner of two or more matches and therefore can provide larger cumulative odds.

Set betting

In set betting, a punter is betting on the outcome of the match in terms of how many sets each player wins. Singles matches at the French Open are best of five sets so during Roland Garros, the options will be 3-0, 3-1 and 3-2 to either player.

Most aces

Several bookmakers (although not all) offer markets on which player will serve the most aces – service winners which the returner does not a get a racquet on – in a match. Such markets are more popular towards the end of the tournament when layers have fewer matches to trade.

Bet builder

An increasingly popular bet which combines various aspects of a match. For example, you might bet on the number of sets, games and aces. The more legs you add, the greater the odds become.

Total sets/games over/under

You bet on whether the match will feature more (over) or fewer (under) games/sets than the bookmaker’s line. For example, the total games line for a match may be set at 37.5. If you back the ‘over’ option then you need the match to feature at least 38 games.

Handicap betting

A market which is particularly useful if there is a heavy favourite. The underdog is duly given a head start – for example, 8.5 games. When the game totals are added up at the end of the match, 8.5 is therefore added to the player who started as the outsider. Take this match: Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal 7-6 3-6 6-3 6-4. Djokovic has won 22 games and Nadal 19. However, because Nadal was +3.5 in the game handicap market, his handicap backers are winners as the additional figure takes his total to 22.5. The handicap can also be applied to other match aspects such as sets, aces or double faults.

How to bet on the French Open

Of course, bookmakers’ shops still line the high street but most betting these days is done online.

Don’t worry though – it’s easy to place your bet, albeit you might need to put in a bit of effort to set up an account, if you haven’t already got one.

1. To open an account, visit the bookmaker’s website – there’s usually a ‘join’ or ‘register’ button on the front page.
2. You’ll need to add your details, including a method of depositing such as a credit card. Some bookies will require identity verification, such as providing a copy of your driving licence.
3. Once registered, you can go about browsing the site to find the markets you want, in this case the French Open ones.
4. Most bookie sites have markets filtered by sport with a sport-by-sport list usually found down the side of the page.
5. Once you’ve selected tennis, find the French Open option – it may be listed as Roland Garros, which is what the tournament is known as in France – and click.
6. You should then be able to find the various different markets – outrights and match betting being the most prominent. The matches are usually listed in chronological order using expected start time, often in coupon form, which allows you to make multiple selections easily. The odds will be displayed alongside each betting option.
7. Click on the odds to add that bet to your betslip, which will appear somewhere on the webpage.
8. On the betslip you can add the stake – the amount you wish to place on the bet. Your potential return should then also be shown.

Make sure you check your bet before clicking the ‘place bet’ or ‘confirm bet’ button. Some bookies have a second confirmation stage to avoid any errors – no-one wants to bet £100 when they were actually trying to place a £10 bet!

French Open betting bonuses

• Enhanced odds – Probably the most common ‘bonus’ offer is for a bookmaker to enhance a price from its normal level. For example, the odds are moved from 2/1 to 5/2. However, punters should beware of the potential for a bookie to go with a deliberately short ‘normal’ price in a bid to make their ‘enhanced’ one look more generous than it actually is.
• Tennis accumulator bonuses – Some bookmakers offer bonuses on accumulator bets (those with four legs or more). If the bet wins, the returns are boosted by a pre-determined percentage. For example, an extra 15% could be added to winnings for four-fold bets and 20% for five-folds.
• Acca insurance – It’s always annoying when one leg of your accumulator bet lets you down. That’s where acca insurance can help. Some firms will give you your stake back – either as cash or a free bet – if just one leg of your acca loses.
• Free bets – These do what they say on the tin. A free bet can be offered by a bookmaker, often as part of a ‘bet X, get Y’ offer. So, the offer might be ‘bet £10, get a £5 free bet’, or something of that ilk. The free bet is just that – risk free, so there’s no chance of losing real money on it.
• Sign up offers – Most bookmaking firms provide some sort of sign-up offer on their website in a bid to attract new customers. For example, one such offer could be ‘bet £10, get £30 in free bets’. Another, ‘get double the odds on your first bet’.

Our top 5 tips for betting on the French Open 2023

1. Price is king – Some people will bet regardless of price – ‘if it wins, the price doesn’t matter’ – but that’s not a good long-term strategy. If the odds are too short, sit it out. The bet may win but if you are consistently betting on outcomes that are priced up too skinny, then you’ll lose out in the long run.
2. Seek out the value – Linked in to what’s written above, you need to be on the lookout for prices which look wrong the other way – odds that are too big and provide ‘value’. You want to be backing 3/1 shots that should actually be 2/1. With tennis being more of a niche sport than football or racing, certainly in terms of betting, the bookmakers tend to make more mistakes so such prices are out there.
3. Shop around – Just like shopping for clothing, when it comes to betting you get a different price with different companies. Therefore, make sure you set up accounts with several different bookmakers and make the most of that fact. Why back something at 10/1 when it’s 12/1 elsewhere? Odds comparison sites such as Oddschecker can help you find the best odds on a certain outcome, although sadly tennis isn’t very well covered by such tools.
4. Use the data – Many websites out there are packed with data useful to tennis punters, including the tournament’s official one which contains things like a player’s record at the event in the past, match data from previous rounds etc. In match betting, head-to-head records play an important part and while different punters will place different weight on the statistic’s importance, the H2H is always worth knowing. The official ATP and WTA websites allow users to search for a H2H record between two players, as do others such as Tennis Abstract, which is particularly useful in other ways too.
5. Follow the action – If you are serious about your betting, make sure you watch as much of the action as you can. Eurosport has the UK TV rights to the 2023 French Open. You’ll pick up clues about how well certain players are playing and whether they have any injury issues, while the commentators will often introduce useful nuggets of information.

Remember to gamble responsibly

A responsible gambler is someone who:

• Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
• Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
• Never chase their losses
• Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry, or depressed
• Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
• Gamble Aware – www.begambleaware.org

For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.