The next clear-cut number for the Djoker?
As in 2016 and 2020, Aljaz Bedene has now made it to the third round of the French Open for the third time in his career. So far, this has always been the end of the line for the Slovenian. A fate that threatens him again now, because in the form of Novak Djokovic, he now faces not only the world number one, but also the defending champion.
The Serbian superstar has so far left little to be desired, celebrating two quick 3-0 victories in which he has been on court for almost two hours less than his current opponent. In the run-up to the match between Novak Djokovic and Aljaz Bedene, the odds are clearly in favour of Djokovic, who is also 3-0 up in the head-to-head comparison with the Slovenian.
In 2016, the Djoker ended the run of Aljaz Bedene – then still on the ATP Tour under the British flag – in the third round of the French Open. The underdog won only eight games back then. However, we are confident that he can do the same again. We therefore see a lot of value in Novak Djokovic against Aljaz Bedene in betting on the Slovenian with an Asian handicap of +10.5 games.
Novak Djokovic – Statistics & Current Form
Current world ranking: 1
Position in the seedings: 1
After some teething troubles, missing the Australian Open and missing the Sunshine Double, 2022 is slowly but surely getting underway for 35-year-old Serb Novak Djokovic.
While the Djoker missed out on potentially his first singles title of the season in his home country of Belgrade in April after losing the final to Andrey Rublev, he was able to triumph again just in time for the French Open.
83 of 98 singles won at the French Open
With five straight 2-0 wins, in which the Serb dispatched three top-10 players, Novak Djokovic secured the Rome Masters week before last. Including the two victories at Roland Garros, he is now unbeaten in seven singles matches and has increased his annual tally to 14 wins from 18 matches.
Now the world number one wants to reach for the stars again and confirm his overall victory from last year at the French Open. The Djoker has won a total of 83 of the 98 singles played at the only Grand Slam tournament that is played on clay. He is also the only man to have beaten clay-court king Rafael Nadal twice at Roland Garros.
Only one service game surrendered per match
So far it has been smooth sailing for the Serb, who has won two straight sets 3-0 against Yoshihito Nishioka and Alex Molcan. The world number one failed to win only one service game each and converted 76% of his first serves into points in the course of the tournament and put the first serve into the court in 72% of all cases.
The role of the Djoker as the favourite is therefore crystal clear.
Aljaz Bedene – Statistics & current form
Current world ranking: 195
Position in the seedings: Protected Ranking
Aljaz Bedene, a 32-year-old Slovenian who competed for Great Britain between 2015 and 2017, has fallen to 195th in the ATP World Rankings in the wake of a long injury layoff.
As a result, he has not yet been able to play the really big tournaments in 2022. Although the man from Ljubljana took part in the Sunshine Double, he failed in the first match in both Indian Wells and Miami. In the course of the clay court season, he only attended the two small tournaments in Belgrade and Lyon.
In the run-up to the French Open, only one singles win in 2022
Only five singles were played by the Slovenian in the run-up to the French Open in the whole of 2022, and only one of those five singles was won by Aljaz Bedene, making him a slight underdog in the first round against Christopher O’Connell.
After the 3:1 win, he was then at the latest against Pablo Cuevas, who is very experienced on clay court, really in the role of the underdog, but was also able to defeat the Uruguayan 3:1. The world No. 195 thus reached the third round at Roland Garros for the third time in his career, after 2016 and 2020, where he has always ended up so far.
Scored on opponent’s serve 42.5% of the time
Two figures were striking in his game. Firstly, Bedene’s first serve reached the opponent’s court just 53.5% of the time. This is a figure that he will have to improve if he wants to win his own service games against the Djoker.
And secondly: In both matches he scored on the opponent’s serve more than 40% of the time, which underlines the Slovenian’s great return qualities. This means he should be able to attack the Djoker, which is why we see a lot of value in betting on Novak Djokovic against Aljaz Bedene to win at least eight games even in a three-set defeat (AHC +10.5).
Novak Djokovic – Aljaz Bedene Direct comparison / H2H record
Head to head: 3:0
Three times both athletes faced each other and in all three cases Novak Djokovic won without dropping a set. At the 2016 French Open, the final score was 6-2, 6-3, 6-3
Novak Djokovic – Aljaz Bedene Tip
When it comes to Novak Djokovic against Aljaz Bedene, the prediction goes in favour of the Serbian superstar, who has won seven singles in a row without dropping a single set. In Roland Garros, moreover, he only failed to convert two of his own service games. Now, however, he faces an opponent with great return qualities. The Slovenian outsider has so far scored on 42.5% of his opponents’ serves.
At the moment, we have no doubts about Djoker’s entry into the last 16 and don’t think the Slovenian is likely to win the set either. But we think Bedene can at least win eight games spread over three sets.
