After performing in Madrid, can Auger-Aliassime challenge at the French Open?

With the French Open getting underway in Paris in just under a week, the world’s top players are busy preparing themselves for the clay court Grand Slam. One of these is the 21st-ranked Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who reached the final of the Madrid Masters before going down to Andrey Rublev. 

It’s fair to say that Canada’s top male tennis player has experienced a difficult start to 2024. Beginning the year ranked 29th, Auger-Aliassime slipped further down the rankings to No 36 due to some injuries and unfortunate results. Despite this, he remains a favoured outside bet for Paris on online sports betting sites, with some of the best ones offering odds of +10000 on the 23-year-old.

While his odds are worth a gamble and position him as a potential last-16 candidate for the French Open, he’s still way off the top of the betting boards. Current world No 3 and semi-finalist at Roland-Garros in 2023, Carlos Alcaraz (+188) is gambling sites‘ choice for the 2024 title, with defending champion and world No1 Novak Djokovic (+300) hot on his heels.

The year’s in-form player, Italian Jannik Sinner (+350) and the injury-plagued 14-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal (+1100) make up the semi-final favourites while others in contention include Casper Ruud (+1400), Stefanos Tsitsipas (+1500), Alexander Zverev (+1800), and Holger Rune (+2000).

Auger-Aliassime is grouped with four other players on the same odds. Online sportsbooks give Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Alex De Minaur, Matteo Berrettini, and Francisco Cerundolo the same chance of victory as the Canadian. His compatriot, world No 132 Denis Shapovalov, has odds of +40000 for a French Open win.

Based on his form in Madrid, Felix Auger-Aliassime may be peaking at the right time to mount a challenge in the upcoming Grand Slam’s latter rounds. He’s been as high as 6th on the ATP world rankings, in November 2022, and has shown the pedigree to compete at the very top level in men’s tennis by winning five ATP singles titles. 

For all his pedigree and potential, the Montreal-born player has fallen short of truly challenging for a Grand Slam title in his career so far, with an appearance in the semi-finals of 2022’s US Open, played on his favoured hardcourt surface, being the best he’s achieved. Although clay hasn’t suited Auger-Aliassime, with all his titles coming on hard court, he has reached the fourth round in France before.

With the best online bookmakers tipping him to do the same at Roland-Garros this year, and his promising Madrid Open showing, perhaps the remainder of the 2024 season is when Auger-Aliassime can regain his former glory and head back towards the Top 10 in the world rankings. 

The Canadian will remain an underdog going into the French Open. Considering his Madrid performance alone, Félix Auger-Aliassime might be one to watch when Roland-Garros begins on Sunday.