2025 Roland Garros best bets for Sunday, May 25th
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.
Emiliana Arango vs. Alexandra Eala
Eala went on the run of a lifetime at the Miami Open, making the semifinals in a tournament in which she defeated Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek. The 20-year-old also played a tight one against Jessica Pegula in the semis, losing 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3 in a back-and-forth battle. However, Eala is just 2-3 since leaving South Beach. The wins came over Anouk Koevermans and Viktoriya Tomova, so she has hardly done anything noteworthy on the dirt. And in her career, she’s just 3-5 on the surface at the WTA level.
This just feels like a match in which name recognition will have casual bettors jumping on Eala as a small favorite, but Arango is 5-4 on the WTA Tour this season. She has also won 15 clay-court matches in her career, and she’s going to be a tricky opponent for somebody that lacks true experience on this surface. Arango is a wall along the baseline, understands how to play with shape to throw off opponents and just fights until the end of every point. The Colombian has said that she grew up idolizing Rafael Nadal, and you can see it in the way she battles.
This match just feels closer to a 50-50 than the odds suggest, so I’m taking a stab at fading a player that I believe is overhyped. If Eala isn’t hitting the ball cleanly, Arango will frustrate her and the errors could start to pile up.
Bet: Arango ML (+130)
Luca Nardi vs. Fabian Marozsan
Marozsan is a massive favorite to beat Nardi, which isn’t crazy considering the level the Hungarian is capable of reaching on this surface. Marozsan has a big serve, incredible power from the back of the court and a gorgeous drop shot. That has helped him earn some big wins on the dirt, with the most notable being a victory over Carlos Alcaraz in Rome back in 2023. But I’m just not sure Marozsan should be expected to beat Nardi in straight sets.
Marozsan can occasionally run cold when it comes to blasting his flatter strokes from the baseline, and Nardi is an all-court player that is very solid. The Italian doesn’t have many weapons that will blow people away, but he’s going to take the ball early, play aggressive and have his moments throughout this match. So, if Marozsan’s level does dip at any point, Nardi should be able to sneak a set — and possibly even two.
Nardi has had some good results over the last couple of weeks, including a win over Flavio Cobolli in Rome. He followed that up with a very competitive loss to Alex de Minaur in the Round of 64. Then, Nardi went to Turin and beat Mariano Navone, a good clay-court player, in a tight three set match.
I just don’t think a blowout either way can be expected, and the odds definitely suggest a straightforward win for Marozsan. So, let’s hope the oddsmakers are wrong and we see both players get on the board.
Bet: Over 3.5 Sets (-126)
Emilio Nava vs. Botic van de Zandschulp
I started doing the Michael Jordan tongue thing when I saw this matchup in the draw, as I saw a mismatch and wanted to attack it. Van de Zandschulp might be a former top-25 player, but he hasn’t had a winning season on the ATP Tour since 2022. The Dutchman is also just 4-9 since the start of 2025, and people probably would have forgot he existed if not for a win over Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells. Van de Zandschulp just isn’t a good enough server, returner or baseliner right now, which is why he is on the verge of falling out of the Top 100. And Nava is a tough opening-round opponent for him.
Nava hasn’t had a lot of success at the ATP level himself, but he is 30-9 at the Challenger level and has won three clay-court titles this year. He also made the final of a fourth. Nava is just better than van de Zandschulp when it comes to maneuvering the baseline and generating power. He’s also better as both a server and a returner.
The only thing that made me hesitate at all with this play is that Nava randomly started to struggle after losing in the final of a Challenger event in Tallahassee in April. I’m thinking he was just a little fatigued, but he has lost four of his last five and isn’t in that awesome form we saw in March and April. But playing on this type of stage should get a fire lit inside of him, and he’s the more talented of these two — and the better clay-courter. So, at plus-money odds, I can’t back off.
Bet: Nava ML (+110 – 1.5 units)
