Tennis betting expert Andy Schooler brings you his latest Futureproof column, which looks at the new clay court season and The Road to Roland Garros’. Read on for Andy’s expert preview of the clay court extravaganza in the French capital.
Futureproof: The Road to Roland Garros, April 1st 2025
The Road to Roland Garros: Fade Away
The start of the claycourt season – which comes this week in Bucharest, Marrackech and Houston – will be welcomed by some players, feared by others. It was always thus. The slow, red dirt requires patience and court craft. Few can hit themselves out of trouble on this surface. In general, it’s bad news for the big servers, who win few cheap points on clay, and better news for those with strong return games, who are able to neutralise the serve much more.
Frances Tiafoe’s booming delivery won’t be such a weapon here. And, in any case, it’s not exactly been working well on the more friendly surfaces in recent months – the American has done very little since his US Open semi-final run, failing to win back-to-back matches in the six months that have followed. Yet he remains in the world’s top 20 and that means bookies could still be inflating his price when he arrives in Europe – his match odds will be worth a browse when he takes to the clay.
Grigor Dimitrov’s form has been more impressive and he’s also a better claycourt player than Tiafoe will likely ever be. Yet he’s also a potential fade for me this clay season. The Bulgarian has had numerous injury issues already in 2025, while at 33, I’m not convinced about his general fitness these days – he looked completely gone at the end of his Miami Open quarter-final last week. I don’t see him winning many long matches – and clay tends to throw those up with its strength-sapping rallies from the back of the court – especially if it’s hot.
The Road to Roland Garros: Ones to Watch
Stefanos Tsitsipas is worth a mention here as he’s coming into his favourite time of the year. The Greek has won three of the last four titles in Monte Carlo, where the tour heads next week, while his record at the French Open is also strong with his last five visits producing the following results: QF-QF-4R-RU-SF. He’s largely struggled to find his best tennis since the 2024 clay season but a title run in Dubai recently was a notable tonic and increased confidence should serve him well heading into the clay campaign.
Unlike Tsitsipas, Jaume Munar and Jaime Faria won’t be contending for the top clay prizes but both could be worth following in matches and at the lower-end events – Munar plays in Marrakech this week. The Spaniard has beaten the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur on hardcourts already this season and now he’s moving onto his favourite surface. There’s definitely potential for him to notch some more big wins.
As for Faria, he was an eyecatcher during the recent South American ‘Golden Swing’ of claycourt events, reaching the last eight in both Rio and Santiago. It took eventual champion Laslo Djere to beat him in the latter event, in a deciding set. Faria enjoyed plenty of claycourt success on the second-tier Challenger Tour in 2024 and having begun to translate that to the main tour, he’s another who could shine over the next two months.
The Road to Roland Garros: Antepost Angle
I’ve struggled to find anything in the French Open market but I want to mention one player in relation to Wimbledon. I almost included Marin Cilic in the section above. After all, he recently beat Alex de Minaur in Dubai and has already moved onto the clay, making an immediate impact by winning the Challenger title in Girona. He’ll play another Challenger this week in Menorca.
If Cilic is able to continue his return to form over the coming weeks, he should be in a good place coming into the grasscourt campaign. The Croat is a former Wimbledon finalist, twice a Queen’s Club champion and has also pocketed the title in Stuttgart. In short, he’s one of the most successful active players on grass and it’s not hard to see him going off significantly shorter than his current 105.0 quote.
The Road to Roland Garros: Review
As always, let’s finish with a quick look back at those mentioned in the last Futureproof column.
Nuno Borges – Crushed Arthur Fils in Dubai. Won plenty of matches on the hardcourts but maybe not as many as he might have.
Lorenzo Musetti – Hopes of the Italian landing a claycourt title in South America were almost over before they began as he picked up an injury in Buenos Aires.
Aleksandar Vukic – A big flop. Has failed to back up a decent Australian Open, losing a number of tight matches. His last four have been lost in a deciding set, two of them in a final-set tie-break.
Jakub Mensik – I’m going to squeeze in the newly-crowned Miami Open champion here as he was put up as one of my ‘five to follow’ at the start of the season!
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