2025 Roland Garros best bets for Monday, May 26th
The second major of the 2025 tennis season is here. The top players in the world are in Paris, France for the 2025 French Open over the next two weeks, and the action in Roland Garros should be awesome to monitor. I’ll be posting daily best bets throughout the tournament, so VSiN is the place to be if you like betting on tennis. If you aren’t already a subscriber, I’d suggest looking into becoming a VSiN Pro soon. I constantly provide analysis on all the biggest events, and this is the best time of the year for this sport.
I’d also strongly suggest checking the Pro Picks page throughout the day. That’s where Gill Alexander will be posting his French Open best bets. Gill does a tremendous job handicapping tennis on A Numbers Game, which is a staple of our live VSiN programming. Also, while I try to write up as many of my plays as possible, I do occasionally add things to that page throughout the day. That’s also where I post plays for smaller ATP and WTA events, and my Challenger-level plays live exclusively on that page.
With all of that out of the way, let’s get into some French Open picks for Day 2 on Monday, May 26th.
Arthur Cazaux vs. Alejandro Tabilo
Cazaux has had a disappointing 2025 season, as he’s 3-4 at the ATP level and hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Injuries have really derailed the early portion of his career, and age and experience don’t seem to be making the difference. Cazaux is also 0-5 at Roland Garros in his career, so he hasn’t proven that this environment is a good one for him. But realistically, even knowing all of that, I’m not sure how we got to a point where Cazaux is only being given a 40% chance of winning this match.
While Cazaux has had a brutal year, the 22-year-old has arguably had a better season than Tabilo. Sure, the southpaw beat Novak Djokovic in Monte-Carlo, marking the second time the Chilean has defeated the 24-time Grand Slam champion. But Tabilo is just 3-9 when you take away that match, and that includes a 2-4 record on the dirt. Tabilo’s hold percentage is down from 83.8% in his career season in 2024 to 76.5% this year. That’s not good enough when you also factor in his break percentage, which currently sits at just about 20%. On top of all of that, Tabilo can be mistake-prone from the baseline, and he just took a few weeks off with what was described as a “serious wrist injury.” That’s not good when considering how dooming wrist injuries can be in this sport.
Tabilo is also dealing with a little off-court drama, as there was noise coming from unhappy family members of his on social media. I won’t try to get into any of that, as you never really know the full story — and it could be complete nonsense. But the reality is that Tabilo isn’t in form, he’s not healthy and he might not be fully focused right now. And he now has to take on a Frenchman in front of a raucous French crowd.
I just don’t think these odds make a lot of sense with Cazaux’s edge in power and shot-making ability, and the 22-year-old has to be viewing this matchup with an out-of-form opponent as the perfect opportunity to pick up his first win at this venue.
Bet: Cazaux ML (+150)
Luciano Darderi vs. Sebastian Korda
Our VSiN betting splits page shows that most of the bets in this match are coming in on Korda, and I can’t say that surprises me. Most casual tennis fans know Korda, as he’s a talented player and also happens to be a part of a well-known sports family. But Korda is just 3-4 on clay since the start of the 2025 season, and he hasn’t exactly beaten anybody. Meanwhile, Darderi has done nothing but compete on clay in 2025, as this will be his 27th match on the surface. The Italian isn’t just playing, either — he’s winning.
Darderi won a clay-court title in Marrakech this year, and that title run ended with a straight-set win over Tallon Griekspoor. He also made the finals at a competitive Challenger-level event in Naples. All in all, Darderi is 16-10 on the surface since the start of 2025, giving him six more wins on clay than Korda has in the 2025 season across all surfaces.
Darderi isn’t just your standard clay-court grinder, either. A lot of guys find success on the surface by grinding out long rallies, hitting with heavy topspin and just outlasting opponents by essentially pushing. But Darderi isn’t a typical clay-court specialist. He does move well on this surface, but he has a big forehand, can hit heavy shots and has a pretty strong serve.
I just think that the wrong player is favored in this one, and that’s not because I view Darderi as a significantly better player than Korda. The American just doesn’t have a great game for clay, and he’s running into an in-form player that loves these conditions.
Bet: Darderi ML (+120 – 1.5 units)
Taylor Townsend vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
This is going to be an interesting match. Clay is Cocciaretto’s preferred surface, but she’s just 6-7 on the dirt over the last 52 weeks. She also comes into this match after having lost five of her last seven matches, and some of the performances were just miserable. So, I’m not sure how much it matters that she’s playing on clay, and I also think the fact that this match will be played in the evening favors Townsend significantly.
It gets really hard to hit through opponents at night, as the conditions slow down a ton as the sun starts going down. Well, one of Townsend’s biggest flaws is her inability to move. If the ball is sitting up and she has more time to track them down, there’s a good chance she’ll make Cocciaretto feel helpless. Townsend is powerful, can hit with impressive shape and loves to come to the net to finish points. If her biggest weakness is hidden by the conditions, she should have time to set up on the ball and push Cocciaretto around.
Townsend is also much more reliable as a server, even if her numbers this season are a little disappointing. I’d be surprised if she can’t get this done.
Bet: Townsend ML (-120 – 1.5 units)
