Olympic tennis tournament in Paris, 1st round, Sunday, 28.07.2024, 20:30
The defending champion wants gold again! If it doesn’t work out with a triumph at a Grand Slam, Alexander Zverev would certainly give himself up to become Olympic champion for the second time.
The 2024 Olympics in Paris will be played at Roland Garros, where the Hamburg-born player reached the final a few weeks ago. He now starts against a Spaniard and is heavily favored.
In my Zverev Munar betting tip, I will of course take a close look at the gold chances and tell you why I’m actually ruling out a surprise and therefore predicting a 2:0 for the favorite
It was a tournament that deserved spectators! Alexander Zverev cried tears of joy when he actually won the Olympics three years ago – unfortunately on courts that didn’t allow fans due to the coronavirus.
He only dropped a single set during the entire Olympics, and with a 2:1 victory over Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, that really can happen. The gold medal was fully deserved.
The 2024 Games will take place in Paris, so they will be played on the courts of the French Open. By no means a bad omen for Zverev, who reached the final here a few weeks ago, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz.
The 27-year-old has produced strong results on clay, but he did not cope so well with the switch to the much faster grass. He played three tournaments before the Olympics, two on green and one on orange
After his Wimbledon exit in the round of 16 against Taylor Fritz, he traveled home to Hamburg and was determined to win. A little damaged, Zverev reached the final, but lost in three sets to Arthur Fils.
Zverev, who was talked about as the German team’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony (this honor will now be reserved for basketball world champion Dennis Schröder), will initially have an easy road ahead of him in Paris.
Novak Djokovic would not be waiting until the semi-finals, and Carlos Alcaraz would even have to wait until the final. However, Zverev should not take the first rounds lightly, a medal does not come by itself
He has only met his first opponent Jaume Munar once in his career, and that was several years ago. The two duelled in Marrakech in 2019, when Munar prevailed 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 in three sets.
Our bookmakers can’t really imagine that things will go the same way this weekend. The odds in our sports betting apps see Zverev clearly ahead with an average of 1.11 to 6.70.
Jaume Munar, who is a full 16 centimetres shorter than Zverev at 1.83m, is taking part in the Olympic Games for the first time and, as number 65 in the world rankings, is not one of the favorites
His dress rehearsal in Kitzbühel? It went completely wrong when he lost 3-6, 4-6 in round 1 against Yannick Hanfmann! He had already missed out on a win in Hamburg, but lost to the eventual champion Arthur Fils.
Since the French Open, where Munar won at least one match (against compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut), he has only won once, so we definitely can’t talk about strong form.
Munar hasn’t really caught my eye in the whole of 2024. If he makes it to the top once, as he did at the Challenger in Provence, it’s really only because his opponents aren’t ranked in the top section
My Zverev Munar tip
To be honest, I can’t really imagine that the defending champion could have any problems. Although he wasn’t fully fit in Hamburg, the spirit of the Olympic Games alone will ensure that any minor ailments are quickly forgotten.
Jaume Munar didn’t achieve any notable results in 2024, and the Spaniard failed very early on, especially in the last few tournaments. That’s why I quickly decided to send the following tip into the race:
Zverev wins outright against Munar!
