Nadal now shortest price yet for French Open decima

Spaniard is reaching peak clay form
Ten is the magic number for Rafael Nadal this summer. The Spaniard landed his second straight decima at the Barcelona Open last weekend – and he’s never looked more likely to do likewise at this year’s French Open.
Nadal made it 10 titles in Barcelona with a straight sets victory over Dominic Thiem, following on from reaching the same number in Monaco a week earlier.
Our traders have been busy enough trimming the 30-year-old’s Roland Garros odds throughout 2017, but now they sit shorter than ever at 5/4.
After an injury-disrupted 2016, Nadal was as long as 5/1 in early January, before his run to the Australian Open final.
But since that run to the showpiece in Melbourne, the King of Clay’s odds have fallen consistently and are now a touch off even-money.
And further confidence for those backing Nadal can be found in the form of his main rivals.
Andy Murray has won just a single tournament so far this year, and the Scot was far from convincing en route to the last-four in Barcelona.
The Scot has played just six matches in the last two months, as he bids to recover from an elbow concern.
And things aren’t any better in the Novak Djokovic camp either.
The Serbian won the opening tournament of the year in Qatar, but has since failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals.
Similarly, Djokovic has played just 11 matches in the last three-and-a-half months, and is also nursing an elbow injury.
The biggest concern for Nadal then, must be old-foe Roger Federer.
The Fed-Express hasn’t been seen on Tour for a month since winning in Miami, but this is all part of the Swiss Maestro’s plan.
His latest comments indicate he is fully intending to enter the French Open, but on paper (or should that be clay?) you’ve got to fancy an in-form Nadal to win out should they meet in Paris.
Federer’s kicked off 2017’s year of the comeback in Australia, and now all the signs point to Nadal continuing the theme in France.