Tennis best bets for the French Open – Monday, June 5th
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 Monday, June 5th. 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
Bernarda Pera vs. Ons Jabeur (Scheduled: 5:00 a.m. ET)
Jabeur was really pushed in a three-set win over Olga Danilovic last round, and she also suffered an early loss in Rome before the French Open. Jabeur is one of the best clay-court players in the women’s game, but she hasn’t looked like an elite player since the start of 2023. Sure, the Tunisian will likely reach that level again, but there’s some value in betting against her until she does it. With that in mind, I like the odds on Pera to win at least one set in this match.
Pera’s power has made her more of a threat on hard courts in recent years, but the American is 39-25 on clay at the WTA level. That 60.9% winning percentage is by far the best she has on any single surface, and clay is actually the only surface in which she has a winning record. So, she might be undervalued a bit coming into this match, especially with her ability to hit the cover off the ball.
Jabeur is going to mix things up and try to utilize spin throughout this much, but there’s something to be said about Pera’s ability to just lace shots. These courts have played insanely slow in this year’s tournament, and that has favored some of the cleaner ball strikers on tour. And Pera fits that description rather well, so I can see her giving Jabeur a lot of trouble here. The American also won the only previous matchup between these two, 6-4, 6-3, in 2019.
Bet: Pera +1.5 Sets (+145)
Francisco Cerundolo vs. Holger Rune (Scheduled: 6:30 a.m. ET)
Rune has proven to be one of the best clay-court players in the world, but he hasn’t yet proven that he has what it takes to go deep in a Grand Slam. And while that’s definitely going to change in the near future, it is fair to wonder whether it’ll happen here. Rune still needs to show that has what it takes to physically and mentally battle against another great player and prevail at a major. With that said, I think putting at least a little on Cerundolo is a good idea here.
For as good as Rune is on clay, Cerundolo is also one of the best dirtballers in the men’s game. Cerundolo has one of the game’s most dangerous forehands, and he is capable of beating anybody when he has it going with that shot. And considering he’ll be playing with nothing to lose here, I expect him to come out swinging. If Cerundolo just keeps things together with his serve, I think he’ll have a good shot at winning this match. I’m taking the games and also sprinkling the moneyline.
Bet: Cerundolo +5.5 Games (-115) & Cerundolo ML (+210 – 0.5 units)