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Sports Betting Futures Odds: Nadal Goes for Title No. 11 at French Open


by - 5/23/2018

Justify in the Kentucky Derby

Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five…not eight, not nine…. No, Rafael Nadal has already won an incredible 10 French Open titles. The 31-year-old will kick off his quest for No. 11 when the festivities at Roland Garros begin next week. Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth is looking for more success at one of his favorite tournaments.

All odds provided by Bovada Sportsbook .

French Open

Rafael Nadal (-225) - Nadal is 19-1 on clay this season. Does that "1" suggest that he is beatable at the upcoming French Open? Maybe; maybe not. Dominic Thiem accomplished the feat in Madrid, but doing so in a best-of-five-sets situation as opposed to best-of-three-and in Paris instead of Madrid-is a whole different story.

Dominic Thiem (+650) - Thiem has defeated the current world No. 1 three times on clay, but Nadal dominated their 2017 Roland Garros semifinal showdown 6-3, 6-4, 6-0. Although the eighth-ranked Austrian has underwhelmed in 2018 aside from his upset of Nadal, that result and his past success in Paris make him the Spaniard's top threat.

Alexander Zverev (+800) - Zverev almost issued a mammoth upset in last week's Rome final, during which he took a set off Nadal 6-1 and led by a service break in the third before a one-hour rain delay halted his momentum. The 21-year-old German eventually lost, but he is still an awesome 17-3 on clay this spring with two titles.

Novak Djokovic (+1000) - Djokovic made a statement in Rome; something along the lines of don't forget about me! Making a comeback from various 2017 injury issues, the Serb was a shadow of his former self throughout March but has won seven matches on clay-including two over Kei Nishikori. He is coming off a semifinal showing in Rome.

Johnny Manziel's 2018 CFL season

To win Most Outstanding Player (+1000) - Manziel signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last week, thus paving the way for him to continue his football career in the Canadian Football League. The former Heisman Trophy winner last played in the NFL in 2015, so it remains to be seen how rusty he is when CFL action begins next month.

Over/Under interceptions (11.5) - A high-risk, high-reward player, Manziel was picked off 13 times as a sophomore at A&M. His NFL sample size is, of course, small (two INTs in 35 attempts in 2014 and five INTs in 223 attempts over nine games in 2015). There are 16 games in a CFL season-more chances to throw INTs than in the NFL.

Over/Under passing touchdowns (23.5) - If Manziel plays all 18 games, averaging 1.5 touchdown passes per contest would allow him to comfortably exceed the total of 23.5. He could sling it around in college, averaging 2.0 per game as a freshman and almost 3.0 per outing as a junior. Will he be able to do the same at a professional level?

Over/Under passing yards (3,900) - In a somewhat pass-happy CFL, 3,900 yards would have ranked seventh among last year's league leaders. Edmonton signal-caller Mike Reilly led the way with 5,830 yards, while Ricky Ray also surpassed the 5,500-yard mark. Four other quarterbacks passed for more than 4,000 yards in 2017.

Fort Worth Invitational

Jordan Spieth (+900) - Spieth has been outstanding at Colonial in recent seasons. He finished runner-up by one stroke in 2015, won this tournament in 2016, and lost by one shot again last year. The 24-year-old American is by no means on fire, but he is certainly playing well enough to capitalize at one of his favorite courses .

Jon Rahm (+1400) - Like Spieth, Rahm played well at the Masters last month (Spieth was third, Rahm was fourth). Also like Spieth, Rahm tied for second at this event in 2017. The 23-year-old Spaniard needs to recapture that kind of form after missing the cut at the Zurich Classic and placing T63 at THE PLAYERS Championship.

Justin Rose (+1800) - Rose is making a rare appearance at Colonial, and that could be bad news for the rest of the field. Although the fifth-ranked Englishman has cooled off following a March stretch in which he was fifth at the Valspar and third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he was a solid T12 at the Masters and T23 at THE PLAYERS.

Webb Simpson (+1800) - Simpson had already been playing well in 2018, but his wire-to-wire dominance of THE PLAYERS still basically came out of nowhere. Winning at Colonial this week would be no surprise at all. The 32-year-old American finished T3 there in 2016 and was solo fifth last spring. Rickie Fowler is a +2000 fifth choice.

The Belmont Stakes

Justify (Even) - Justify is 5-0 in 2018, which obviously includes wins at the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. He represents trainer Bob Baffert's fifth shot at a Triple Crown going into the Belmont. The first three such horses failed before American Pharoah made history in 2015.

Audible (+450) - It is not rare in the Triple Crown season for other contenders to skip the Preakness and rest up for the Belmont to take a shot at the best horse. The story is no different in 2018, as Audible will be among those back on the track in New York. He had been 4-0 before placing third at Churchill Downs.

Good Magic (+600) -Good Magic was tipped as Justify's primary challenger at the Preakness, and that is how it turned out to be most of the way until the former faded to fourth behind Bravazo and Tenfold. The Chad Brown-trained horse won the Blue Grass Stakes and was second at the Derby.

Hofburg (+700) - As usual, the Belmont field is expected to be bigger and better than that of the Preakness. Justify and Good Magic should have plenty of company in the form of Audible, Hofburg, and others. Hofburg has one win this season to go along with a runner-up performance at the Florida Derby.

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