Serena Williams facing long betting odds at French Open

If Serena Williams is going to tie Margaret Court’s modern-era record of 24 career grand slams at this year’s French Open, she’s going to have to overcome long odds to accomplish the elusive feat.

World No. 1 and defending champion Ashleigh Barty is not in the bracket, skipping her second consecutive grand slam event due to coronavirus-related reasons, and No. 3 Naomi Osaka withdrew due to a hamstring injury.

That leaves second-ranked Simona Halep of Romania as the heavy favorite by most sportsbooks. That includes PointsBet, where the 2018 French Open champion was being offered at +250, with the next closest being Garbine Muguruza at +600.

Muguruza is ranked No. 15 in the world, but the native of Spain won at Roland Garros in 2016, beating Williams in the final. She is also coming off a semifinals appearance at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where she was eliminated by Halep in a hard-fought three-set battle.

Williams sat out that event while recovering from the left Achilles injury she suffered during her semifinal loss to Victoria Azarenka at the U.S. Open earlier this month.

Williams is the third betting favorite at PointsBet, but she enters the French Open with long odds at +1200 along with Azarenka. The 38-year-old Williams has been chasing her 24th grand slam title since winning Wimbledon four years ago.

The third of Williams’ three French Open titles came five years ago. She was bounced in straight sets by Sofia Kenin in the third round last year and withdrew before a fourth-round matchup against Maria Sharapova in 2018 due to a pectoral injury.

Karolina Pliskova, the second-highest ranked woman in the tournament at No. 4, was being offered at +2000, while fifth-ranked Elina Svitolina was being offered at +1400. Pliskova has a lone semifinal appearance at Roland Garros in 2017, while Svitolina has yet to advance past the quarterfinals (2015, ’17).

Jelena Ostapenko, who won her only career grand slam event at the 2017 French Open, is a +5000 longshot by PointsBet. It was the only time she has advanced past the semifinals of a grand slam and she enters with a 4-4 singles record in 2020.

–Field Level Media ()