French Open, 1st round, Tuesday, 24.05.2022
Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic – who will join the top favourites at the 2022 French Open? Stefanos Tsitsipas wants to finally leave this trio behind and celebrate his first Grand Slam triumph.
The Greek is in a good mood, likes Roland Garros very much. The world number four will start against a player who is not yet among the top players. Read my Musetti Tsitsipas tip to see why I expect the favourite to win
It was almost exactly a year ago that Stefanos Tsitsipas was on the verge of the biggest success of his career. He had already beaten John Isner, Pablo Carreno Busta, Daniil Medevdev and Alexander Zverev before Novak Djokovic was waiting in the final.
The Greek was 2:0 ahead before he was defeated. In 2020, it was Djokovic who stood in his way and knocked him out of the tournament, also in five sets, in the semi-finals.
After his debut in Paris in 2017, Tsitsipas never failed to reach Round 1 again, showing time and again how well he can cope on clay. Four times in a row he reached at least the quarter-finals, leaving himself some room for improvement.
In Rome, he lost the final against Novak Djokovic 0-6, 6-7, and had to recover from the disastrous first set. Djokovic, Zverev, Alcaraz – those who were able to beat Tsitsipas last time had it in them.
The 23-year-old is becoming more and more consistent and hardly ever makes any mistakes against outsiders. Last year he had two encounters with Lorenzo Musetti, now it’s the third duel.
While the favourite won outright in Acapulco, the Italian could win at least one set in his only match on clay so far. The betting companies see very clear tendencies for match number three.
David Goffin, Yoshihito Nishioka and Marco Cecchinato were defeated, he then faced Novak Djokovic in the last 16. Musetti won two tiebreaks and was leading 2:0. The sensation was in the air, rather the Italian could not catch himself.
At 7-6, 7-6, 1-6, 0-6, 0-4, the then 19-year-old gave up completely exhausted. Now he is a year older and wants to do better. With Stefanos Tsitsipas, of course, he is presented with an absolutely ungrateful opponent early on.
In Madrid, he had played his way into the last 16, where he had to retire injured against Alexander Zverev. Let’s hope that he has fully recovered from this injury.
Since the Miami Open, Musetti has always reached the last 16, making it difficult even for the absolute top stars. However, he has not yet been able to break a Stefanos Tsitsipas calibre this year.
My Musetti Tsitsipas Tip
For Stefanos Tsitsipas, the dream of winning a Grand Slam should finally come true in 2022. The world number 4 is in a good mood, especially likes the tournament in Paris. He has won both of his direct duels against Lorenzo Musetti.
Tough fight yes, sensation rather no. Therefore my tip is:
Tsitsipas wins at over 27.5 games!
