Analysis for Safin-Ouanna (ATP French Open)

Head-to-head record 0:0

Russian hero Marat Safin will play young French hope J.Ouanna in the second round. Safin is a beloved player for everyone, including us. He is the one who has been making the tennis world “special” over the last decade. Probably the most talented player ever born is considering the end of his career but we hope he will continue. He is known for his emotional outbursts during matches, and has smashed numerous rackets. Lack of consistency has been described as Safin's ultimate weakness, since 2005. Safin considers grass to be his least favorite playing surface, even though other opponents with similar playing styles generally dominate on it. Safin had his best performance at Wimbledon in 2008, where he reached the semi finals. On clay, he has always been inconsistent throughout his career. It is definitely his best surface and what is most important for us is that he is miles behind his best form. He hasn’t got past the third round at any tournament this year and his clay court record is 2-4. He got past Sidorenko and will play another Frenchman in the second round. Josselin Ouanna was a successful junior and reached the final of the 2004 Australian Open on junior circuit. Last year, he defeated Ljubicic in the first round of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon as a wild-card entry which is probably his career best match. We think he is a better player than Sidorenko and has a solid future ahead but to be honest, we are betting against Safin rather than on his opponent. It doesn’t really matter who Safin plays, when he has “his day”, he can be beaten by anyone. Ouanna will be pushed by frenetic home crowd and we believe he is not without a chance here. Take the odds above 3.4 here.