BARTOLI BACKS NADAL

Other people might be a little reluctant to have Rafael Nadal as their pick for the French Open this time around but Marion Bartoli reckons that, in spite of the poor form of the Spaniard, it will be him who is going to lift the trophy at Roland Garros.

According to Bartoli, if it had been any other tournament to be played on clay, then she might have thought twice before picking Nadal as favourite, but simply because it’s the French Open and the matches are going to be of 5 sets, it would be hard for anyone to topple the clay court king.

Bartoli also sees Gael Monfils, the 28-old French player who is currently no. 18 in the rankings, as the dark horse – he is currently a 16/1 outshot with titanbet.

Monfils’ best performance in the French Open had come in 2008 with him reaching the Round of 4 with a bang. But, he lost his touch thereafter slipping in the rankings quite a bit.  In the last few months, he has put up some fine performances and seems to have become a better player. Playing on the home soil, he might prove to be a force in the tournament.

Talking about the French Open yesterday, Bartoli said, “I would go with Rafa again. I don’t think anybody is better than him in those conditions.”

“The format of the Grand Slams is a lot different. You need a lot more quality and stamina to be consistent and beat players like Rafa. He will have enough time during the matches to bounce back.”

“There are some other guys too though whom I would like to follow quite closely. Gael Monfils is the one. He looks a good player and he has some good memories of the French Open.”