Roland Garros Expert Tips and Best Bets | May 27

The French Open enters its second round on Wednesday, with a big slate of matches as the world’s best try to make it through to the final 32 at the year’s second Grand Slam. Starting off with a bet for the Greatest of All Time to secure an easy win, these are our best bets for the day’s action.

He might be 39 years of age, but Novak Djokovic remains a force to be reckoned with and looks like great value to cruise through to the third round with a straight sets win at nearly even money with most betting sites. The Serbian was made to fight back from a set down in his opening round match, but that’s been a rarity; at last year’s French Open, he didn’t lose a single set until the Round of 16, and throughout the course of his career he’s had no issue getting his early round matches over with quickly. Valentin Royer is far from a bad player and is at his home Grand Slam, but Djokovic should dispose of him relatively easily.

Casper Ruud was made to work a little harder than he might have anticipated in his opening round match, being taken to five sets by qualifier Roman Safiullin. But while he spent longer on the court than he would have liked, at this early stage in the tournament he’ll still have his legs well and truly underneath him. It’s worth remembering just how good the Dane has been at this event; in the last four years, he’s made the final twice and semi-final once. Medjedovic, the 58th ranked player in the world, is no slouch and has had some impressive results this clay season, but Ruud should be able to beat him in either three or four sets to cover the -1.5 set handicap.

A safer one to finish off our day’s best bets, but at close to $1.50 with most betting apps this still looks like good value. Jasmine Paolini is a French Open finalist, having gone within a win of securing the title in 2024 before making it through to the fourth round last year. Sierra is an improving young player, but she’s fresh off her first ever win at Roland Garros and has generally proven unable to beat higher ranked players on the surface in her career to date. At just 21 years old she’s got plenty of scope for improvement, but for the moment Paolini is the more established player and should be able to advance through to the third round for the third consecutive year.