Tennis best bets for the French Open – Thursday, June 1st
The French Open is the second major of the tennis season, and it’s the only one that is played on clay. This year’s tournament will feel a bit different without 14-time champion Rafael Nadal, but the action should be tremendous from both the men and the women. There’s nothing quite like clay-court tennis, and we’ll be here with daily best bets for all the action at Roland Garros. With that said, keep reading for our picks for Thursday, June 1st. Make sure you also check out the Pro Picks page throughout the course of the tournament, as I’ll have some plays there that you won’t find here.
MORE: Check out our Pro Picks page for everything our experts have
Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Alex De Minaur (Scheduled: 5:00 a.m. ET)
I was surprised when I saw that Etcheverry is an underdog in this match. The Argentine has been one of the breakout players of the 2023 clay-court season, and he’s fresh off a match in which he only needed to play for an hour against Jack Draper. Etcheverry won the first set of that one and then Draper retired with an arm injury. Now, the 23-year-old should be pretty well-rested when he takes on De Minaur, who needed nearly three hours for his win over Ilya Ivashka.
For as good of a mover as De Minaur is, the Australian is just 20-27 on clay at the ATP level. He has a winning record on every other surface, but this is the one that has given him problems. With that said, it’s a little hard to envision him beating a clay-court specialist. Etcheverry’s forehand should also be the biggest weapon in this match, and his power from the right side will keep De Minaur on his toes.
This should be something of a lengthy battle, but I expect Etcheverry’s clay-court savviness to help him prevail in the end.
Bet: Etcheverry ML (+110)
Aslan Karatsev vs. Frances Tiafoe (Scheduled: 8:00 a.m. ET)
Tiafoe dominated Filip Krajinovic in the opening round of this event, but it’s still a little difficult to take the American seriously right now. Tiafoe has lost three of his last six matches, and his form looked poor in all of the big events leading up to Roland Garros. Tiafoe lost in the first round in Barcelona and then suffered second-round exits in both Madrid and Rome.
Karatsev comes into this match after having won 14 of his last 16 matches, with all of them coming on clay. The Russian also went all the way to the semifinals in Madrid, which says everything you need to know about his form right now. One of his wins in Madrid came over a red-hot Daniil Medvedev. This is a guy that is completely locked in, and Karatsev is a top-20 talent when he’s playing his best game.
As long as Karatsev serves well in this one, he should win rather easily. He’s one of the best returners in the sport, so he should get into a lot of Tiafoe’s service games. And I think Karatsev should have a slight edge from the baseline here.
Bet: Karatsev ML (-115)
Picks on Pro Picks page:
Nicolas Jarry (-145) vs. Tommy Paul
Francisco Cerundolo -3.5 Games (-130) vs. Yannick Hanfmann – 2 units