Monte Carlo Preview

MONTE CARLO OPEN 2016

In my opinion, 2016 is going to be a historic year for Men’s Tennis. We have a very fit and talented Novak Djokovic playing some of the best and most aggressive Tennis in recent history. Last year, the world number 1 came really close to winning the Calendar Grand Slam which was last achieved by Rod Laver way back in 1969! Novak will no doubt be aiming to repeat that feat this year. Even the great Roger Federer hasn’t managed to accomplish this in his illustrious career.

First things first though! He has to win the French Open which has been an obstacle for pretty much every great Tennis player (except Rafa of course!!). We enter the Clay court season tomorrow with one of the best tournaments of the year at Monte Carlo. A brief look at what awaits us the coming week…

Obvious Favourite:

No denying the fact that Novak Djokovic has to be the right favourite for this tournament. Simply put, the guy is performing out of this world at the moment and wants to win everything.

Next Best bets:

Nadal is in the bottom half of the draw which means he will only meet Novak in the Final. Odds of close to 10 looks quite a good market. Federer hasn’t played badly in the past few months but he has had some injury issues that could prove vital here. Murray’s form has been rather poor, losing to Delbonis at Indian Wells and also to Dimitrov in Miami.. Clay is only going to be tougher and Andy must step up his game if he is to have a chance here. His form on Clay was exemplary last year. Let’s hope the Scot can repeat that sort of rhythm in 2016!

Best Outsiders:

My best outsider tip is on Pablo Cuevas for this tournament. The guy is a natural clay courter and has already beaten Nadal this year. Also, he is on a 9 game win streak on Clay, winning titles at Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo back in February. Odds of over 100 on Betfair Outright look good value! Two other outsiders that look good for me are Milos Raonic who has been playing very consistently this year and Guido Pella whose form is quite impressive coming into this tournament.

Prediciton:

Novak is the defending champion and has also won this event back in 2013. I must say that the Serbian’s overall form this year is looking DEADLY ! It would seem that laying Djokovic is going to cost you money, especially on Clay where the fitness levels have tobe spot on. In all fairness, there are enough reasons to conclude that Djokovic is the right man to back at Monte Carlo. It looks like he will defend his title and continue to dominate the Clay Court Season.

WINNER: DJOKOVIC!

Thanks for reading..

Patrick