2022 Women's French Open Picks Following Ashleigh Barty Retirement

Ashleigh Barty – the 25-year-old, No. 1 player in the world – retired from tennis last night. She is coming off an Australian Open title and has sat atop the WTA Rankings for the last three years. Her exit leaves a big hole in the women’s game, and now the rest of the sport will fight for who will fill the spot.

Barty was the favorite to win the French Open, but the odds have been shaken up now. Even though it’s over a month away, here are three players to bet to win the 2022 French Open.

All odds listed are via WynnBET.

Maria Sakkari (+1400 to win the French Open)

If Barty does go through with the retirement, Sakkari will move to No. 2 in the WTA Rankings. Sakkari made the semifinals at the French Open last year and made the semis at the U.S. Open. She has a strong serve and can control any game with it. Sakkari will go as far as her first serve will take her. She’s winning 76% of her service games, but only 38% of return games. 

If she can start games off strong, she can make a run. 

Emma Raducanu (+1800)

Raducanu is in a really good position. She won the U.S. Open and now has a wide open field to do it again. She doesn’t have a lot of experience, but I think that will work in her favor. There are a lot of players who hit a wall, but Raducanu doesn’t have one yet. At +1800, I like her value a lot. 

I would consider her more of a dark horse than Sabalenka, but that speaks more towards my confidence in her than Raducanu.

Aryna Sabalenka (+2000)

While Sabalenka has never even made it to the quarterfinals of the French Open, she finished 2021 strong. She made it to the semis at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Sabalenka has gone toe-to-toe with many of the women in the top 10 of the odds standings and has a lot of major experience. She’s coming off the best year of her career and now would be the chance to capitalize on it.