Djokovic/Nadal Round 2 Olympics

Credit:BBC.com

OVER 2.5 Sets (+210)

The odds for this are incredibly enticing but don’t let that fool you, there is a reason for this.

A few years ago we wouldn’t be seeing odds this high for a competitive match between Nadal and Djokovic, especially on clay. Due to Nadal’s injuries and recent decline in performance, odds makers are expecting Novak to run away with this match.

I disagree, although I think Djokovic will come away with a win I think Nadal can make this a completive match, so I’m willing to take a gamble on the +210 odds.

Nadal isn’t the only one who we’ve seen form drop, Novak is just a few weeks removed from a blowout in the Wimbledon final (0-3), something we’d never thought we’d see. Yeah he’s battling a knee injury but so is Rafa. Novak did just dominate Ebden in round 1 (6-0, 6-1) but as we all know Nadal is a different beast on this surface.

Djokovic leads the pair 30-29 all time but Nadal holds a 8-2 edge at Rolland Garros, not surprising due to him being 113-4 all time at this venue. and wining their most recent matchup in Paris (6-2, 4-6, 6-2 and 7-6). Even though Nadal is the better clay court player and holds the edge in their overall W/L it’s hard to see Djokovic losing tomorrow.

As discussed earlier Nadal is recovering from injuries, played a doubles match on Saturday, a three set singles match on Sunday and now has to play a third match in 3 days in Monday against Novak who has played just one match thus far on Saturday. We did see some shine from Nadal in his match against Fucsovics winning the first set 6-1, giving us some hope he can turn back the clock on Monday.

Even with all this going against Nadal, he is still the greatest clay court player of all time and I don’t expect him to go down without a fight, he should be able to steal at least one set tomorrow. GL VAMOS!