The French Open 2020: The Numbers So Far From Roland-Garros

We are now approaching the business end of the French Open and just four elite players remain standing in the men’s draw at Roland-Garros. These are the key stats that illustrate their respective journeys to the semi-finals:

0 – Clay court king Rafa Nadal has breezed through to the French Open semi-finals without dropping a single set. He eased past Egor Geasimov in the first round and then then dropped just four games in his second round demolition of Mackenzie McDonald. He also won seven out of eight break points in that match. Nadal beat Stefano Travaglia 6-1 6-4 6-0 in the third round, Sebastian Korda 6-1 6-1 6-2 in the fourth round and then Jannik Sinner 7-6 6-4 6-1 in the quarter finals.

13 – Nadal is bidding to win his 13th French Open title this year. No player in history has ever dominated a single Grand Slam event to such an extent. His five victories so far at this year’s tournament have taken his overall record to 98 wins from 100 matches. His only two French Open defeats came against Robin Soderling in 2009 and Novak Djokovic in 2015, but it transpired that he was struggling with injuries at both tournaments. He also retired with an injury in 2016, but he has won the tournament every other year in which he has entered it. Nadal is now the 10/11 favourite in the tennis odds to win the 2020 French Open, and he is also the favourite in the various tennis spread betting markets.

20 – Nadal hopes to win his 20th Grand Slam by surging into Sunday’s final and lifting the French Open trophy. That would move him level with Roger Federer as the most decorated player of all time. He chose not to go to New York to defend his US Open title last month, and that has left him fresh for a full-throttle assault on his rivals at Roland-Garros. Novak Djokovic is just one year younger than Nadal and he is on 17 Grand Slam wins, so he will vie with the Spaniard and Federer to top the all-time chart over the next couple of years. Federer is currently out injured, but Nadal and Djokovic landed on opposite ends of the French Open draw and they are both still in contention.

308 – Diego Schwartzman and Dominic Thiem were on the court for 308 minutes during their epic French Open quarter-final. Some 750 fans were allowed inside Roland-Garros to watch the action unfold, and they were treated to a thrilling five-hour psychodrama. Schwartzman has been steadily building momentum this year after beating Nadal in Rome en route to reaching his first ever Masters 1000 final, but he was the clear underdog against clay court specialist Thiem. The Austrian star, who won the US Open last month, matched Schwartzman blow for blow during the absorbing match, but the Argentinean eventually battled to a 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory. Thiem admitted that he was “physically over the limit” towards the end of the match, but Schwartzman’s magnificent athleticism shone through. He now faces a stern test of his mettle against a better rested Nadal, but it will be a terrific match if he can display similar levels of determination and desire.

41 – Djokovic hit an uncharacteristic number of unforced errors during his four-set quarter-final victory over Pablo Carreno Busta on Wednesday. He lost the first set 6-4 and had to find deep reserves of energy to eventually prevail in 3 hours and 10 minutes. He ended up winning 130 points to Carreno Busta’s 113 in a tight, tense battle, but ultimately he won six out of 13 break points to set up a semi-final showdown with Stefanos Tsitsipas. Djokovic is the 5/4 second favourite to win the French Open in the tennis odds, but he will have to up his game in order to get past Tsitsipas and then beat either Nadal or Schwartzman.

31 – Tsitsipas has hit 31 aces so far at the French Open. That is more than any other player left standing. Djokovic has managed 18 thus far, while Schwartzman has hit 13 and Nadal has smashed just seven aces. Tsitsipas is just 22 years old, so his is six years younger than Schwartzman, 11 years younger than Djokovic and 12 years younger than Nadal. When Nadal won his first French Open, Tsitsipas was just six years old. Yet he has already carved out a big reputation, and he was ranked fifth in the world before this tournament. He could soon put pressure on the top two, Djokovic and Nadal. Schwartzman will break into the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time as a result of his performance in this tournament.

80 – Tsitsipas had an impressive win percentage of 80% on his first serve during his straight sets victory over Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals. That is the highest of any player to reach the final eight of the tournament. Djokovic won 72% of points on his first serve against Carreno Busta, while Nadal had a 67% win record against Sinner and Schwartzman won just 61% of his first service points against the expert counterpunching of Thiem. That big serve will be Tsitsipas’ biggest weapon as he bids to pull off an upset against world number one Djokovic on Friday.

46-48 – Rafa Nadal has been assigned a spread of 46-48 in our Tournament 60 Index for the French Open. The winner of the tournament is awarded 60 points in this tennis spread betting, the runner-up gets 40 points and the losing semi-finalists receive 20 points. If you think Nadal will win, you can buy at 48. If you think he will struggle, sell at 46. Djokovic is priced at 42.5-44.5 to win just his second French Open title (he won it in 2016 following Nadal’s retirement with injury). Tsitsipas has been given a spread of 27-29 and Schwartzman is priced at 24-26 in this exciting spread betting market. You can also find 69-74 on Djokovic and Nadal in our Name The Finalists Index. In this market, 25 points are awarded per player that makes the final, plus a 50 point bonus if they both make the final. Tsitsipas vs. Nadal is 38-43, Djokovic vs. Schwartzman is 26-30 and Tsitsipas vs. Schwartzman is 12-15.