Alcaraz Is The Betting Favorite in the Olympic Men’s Singles Draw
Olympics Men's Tennis Predictions Has Alcaraz Favored to Win Olympic Gold
Could Alcaraz and Djokovic Be Ready to Meet Once Again?
The two biggest news items when it comes to the Olympics men’s tennis predictions came when top-ranked Jannik Sinner withdrew on the eve of the draw and then longtime rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were put on a potential second-round collision course.
With Sinner unable to compete, Djokovic is the top seed in one of the few tournaments that he has yet to win. However, the Olympics gold medal odds favor Carlos Alcaraz.
In another newsworthy turn of events, former World No. 1 Andy Murray announced that the Olympics will be his final tournament while Rafael Nadal will be teaming up with Carlos Alcaraz in doubles. Speaking of doubles, Murray will play with Daniel Evans in doubles. He is not in the singles field.
Nadal and Murray are both former Olympic gold medal winners in singles.
Seven of the top 10 players in the current ATP rankings are in the field with Alexander Zverev as the defending champion. Holger Rune, Andrey Rublev, and Hubert Hurkacz are other top players who are not in the singles draw at the Olympics.
- Rune was tied for the eighth-shortest odds of +2500 to win the Olympics with Rublev not far behind at +2800.
Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune are among the men’s tennis players set to miss Paris Olympics#JannikSinner #HolgerRune #ParisOlympics #Paris2024https://t.co/o8NHTWo3ua
— Times Now Sports (@timesnowsports) July 25, 2024
It is hard to believe that with the international flavor in professional tennis that more than 60 years elapsed before tennis returned as an Olympic sport with Miloslav Mecir beating Tim Mayotte in the 1988 men’s final while Ken Flach and Robert Seguso won the men’s doubles title that year.
- Alcaraz leads the way at +165 in the Olympics gold medal odds followed by Jannik Sinner at +275 and Novak Djokovic at +300.
The Olympics Games schedule begins on Saturday.
Familiar Names Lead the List of Contenders
Jannik Sinner is the No. 1 player in the world but even before his withdrawal, he was flying somewhat under the radar when it comes to the Olympics men’s tennis predictions.
With Carlos Alcaraz coming off runs to the French Open and Wimbledon titles, he is viewed as the player to beat when the tournament gets underway. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic has done just about everything in the world of tennis with the possible exception of winning Olympic gold.
The first seeded player that Alcaraz could meet would be No. 15 Alejandro Tabilo. A second-round match against either Cameron Norrie or Tallon Griekspoor might be interesting.
If Djokovic and Nadal each win their first match, they would meet in the most anticipated second-round match in Olympic tennis history.
NADAL – DJOKOVIC:
• H2H at major international tournaments:
🇪🇸 Nadal 2-0 Djokovic 🇷🇸
• W/L vs Top 5 at major international tournaments:
🇪🇸 Nadal: 4-0 (100%)
🇷🇸 Djokovic: 0-7 (0%)“But but Nadal got carried by his teammates, Djokovic was let down.” 😂 https://t.co/9Wkg4Jy18X pic.twitter.com/eqeHKMdCAo
— ً (@nadalprop_) July 25, 2024
They have met 59 times with Djokovic leading the series 30-29. Their last meeting was in the 2022 French Open quarterfinals with Nadal winning in four sets. Five of the previous eight meetings came in Grand Slams with Djokovic winning three of those matchups.
Nadal has won 14 times at the French Open although his form these days is not quite at the same level.
- Nadal is coming off a run to the final at Bastad. It was his first ATP final since beating Casper Ruud in the 2022 French Open final. Nadal is priced at +800 to win the Olympics tennis championship.
Stefanos Tsitsipas could be the top threat for the winner of the Djokovic-Nadal match in that quarter of the draw.
Can Zverev Do It Again?
Zverev defied the tennis odds with a three-set win over Djokovic in the semifinals of the 2021 tournament. He dispatched Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-1 to win Olympic gold in Tokyo.
That tournament was on a hard court so this will be a different challenge for Zverev.
Zverev returned to the court after falling to American Taylor Fritz in the Round of 16 at Wimbledon when he eliminated two top 50 players at Hamburg before losing in a third-set tiebreaker to Arturs Fils.
It was a chance for Zverev to get reacquainted to playing on clay. It was his first clay-court event since a five-set loss to Alcaraz in the French Open final.
When looking at the Olympics men’s tennis predictions, Zverev offers good value at +500 in the Olympic tennis outrights. American Taylor Fritz joins Lorenzo Musetti and Nicolas Jarry as seeded players who could make life difficult for Zverev.
Don’t Forget About Medvedev
The draw was not kind for No. 4 seed Danill Medvedev with Casper Ruud, Ugo Humbert, and Felix Auger-Aliassime being the seeded players in his quarter of the draw. Still, it would be dangerous to overlook Medvedev in the Olympic men’s tennis predictions.
- Ruud (+1600) has shorter odds than Medvedev (+2900) in the Olympic tennis odds. Let’s see what happens if they meet in the quarterfinals.
Whoever comes out of that quarter could be in line to face Alcaraz in the semifinals. Alex de Minaur (+2900) in the Olympic odds and American Tommy Paul could be waiting in the quarterfinals.
What About the American Hopes?
Mardy Fish, the silver medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games, is the last American men’s player to medal in singles at the Olympics.
- With Taylor Fritz leading the odds of the American hopefuls at +15000, it is not looking good for that to change. Having the tournament on the red clay in Paris doesn’t help.
Fritz is joined in the singles draw by Tommy Paul, Christopher Eubanks, and Marcos Giron. Fritz and Paul will play doubles together with Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek. Ram is fifth and Kjajicek is 21st in the latest ATP doubles rankings.
Krajicek did win the French Open men’s doubles title with Ivan Dodig. Ram has won four Grand Slam titles in men’s doubles and two others in mixed doubles.
Paul may need to dispatch de Minaur to reach the quarterfinals. Eubanks could get Sebastian Baez in the second round with Tsistipas possibly in the path after that.
Fritz has a tough draw with a potential clash with Lorenzo Musetti just to reach the quarterfinals.
Giron’s first match is against No. 13 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
For more Olympic news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
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