MATCH POINT: It’s Grand Slam time and the French Open in Paris. MATCH POINT has three BETDAQ fancies for this year’s Men’s tournament.

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic again resume their titanic battle to emerge as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) of tennis in their battle with Roger Federer.

1️⃣ Rafael Nadal 21
2️⃣ Roger Federer 20
2️⃣ Novak Djokovic 20

The pandemic has rather got in the way of proceedings – particularly of course with Djokovic who was rather unceremoniously withdrawn at Melbourne at the top of the year because of his vaccine status.

The clay surface at Roland Garros is of course a second home to Nadal who bids to extend his record to 14 wins here which is simply unreal.

Nadal has been battling with a foot injury and retirement was even on the cards last year.

The Spaniard said: “The pain is there always. It’s not going to disappear now. It’s about if the pain is high and strong enough to allow me to play with real chances or not.

“My real goal is to put myself in a position that I am healthy and playing enough good tennis to give myself good chances.

“The results say that I am not the favourite [to win], but that is something that never worried me much.”

A Nadal – Djokovic quarter final could be on the cards with them both in the same half of the draw and I would prefer the specialist clay court experience of Nadal to progress over Djokovic whose own current form was certainly questionable before he bounced back with a win in the Italian Open on Sunday beating Tsitsipas.

It’s hard to leave Nadal out of the portfolio at around 5.3 on BETDAQ but there are also a couple of bigger priced players I’d like to add in as the tournament gets underway.

Jannik Sinner is seeded 11th and gets his French Open underway on Tuesday against American Bjorn Fratangelo – the pair meeting for the first time.

Sinner comes to Paris on the back of a good run in Rome where he made Tsitsipas wotk hard in the first set of their quarter final.

Sinner has a powerful backhand and with some new found confidence and experience the 20-year-old could run deep into the tournament.

I also like the look of Casper Ruud (around 34 on BETDAQ) who has a tough opening round tomorrow against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who has announced his retirement after the French Open.

That could prove tricky for Ruud if Tsonga gains momentum on his swan song but Ruud looks a rising star with multiple ATP titles to his name and should prove too strong.

MATCH POINT RECOMMENDED BETDAQ BETS:
3 points win RAFAEL NADAL (at around 5.3)
2 points win JANNIK SINNER (at around 46)
2 points win CASPER RUUD (at around 34)