Tennis: Wide Open Women’s Field at French Open

The absence of the Williams sisters coupled with a crazy start to the season leaves the women’s tournament wide open ahead of the French Open.

Everyone’s a winner
Kim Clijsters claimed the biggest prize of the year to date when she took the Australian Open title but since then there has been no clear outright leader in the women’s game. Caroline Wozniacki won the prestigious Indian Wells title but then Victoria Azarenka took the next big event in Miami. Petra Kvitova staked her claim by winning in Madrid and just last week saw the resurrection of Maria Sharapova as she took the title in Rome. Plenty of players have shown they can scale the mountain but nobody seems ready to hang around at the top.

Busy schedules
Unlike their male counterparts, most of the front runners on the WTA Tour will be in action this week ahead of play getting under way in Roland Garros. The notable exception is Clijsters, who is making her long awaited return from injury in Paris. Even at +1200, I don’t like the Belgian to make a winning return after such a long absence from injury.

The bulk of the top tier talent are playing in Brussels including Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Jelena Jankovic, and defending French Open champion Francesca Schiavone. This puts value options for Roland Garros such as Marion Bartoli and Andrea Petkovic in an interesting postion. Both Bartoli and Petkovic have skipped Brussels to play in Strasbourg instead, ensuring they don’t face quite the same intense level of competition. This could provide a massive mental boost to both players and make them worth a look to win through the first few rounds in Paris.

Of those likely to contend for top honours in Roland Garros, Schiavone and Jankovic look the best value for Tennis betting fans. Despite having no titles to her name so far in 2011, Schiavone is coming into form and has looked good at Brussels this week. I like her at +2000 with Sports Interaction. Jankovic made a deep run to the semi finals last year and also looks excellent value at +1600.

An emotional favorite
Virginie Razzano won’t be expected to do much in Roland Garros next week. She has lost in the first round on five occasions, including four of the last five tournaments, but she will have the whole of the Tennis world behind her in Paris. Her fiancé Stephane Vidal passed away yesterday from a brain tumour that was first diagnosed nine years ago. Before Vidal died, he told her to play Roland Garros for him. That’s exactly what she is going to do. It’s impossible to imagine the emotion of the occasion when she steps on court next week but she will have no shortage of support in the stands.