Denis Shapovalov will meet Brandon Nakashima in the First Round of the 2023 French Open. The match will be played on Sunday May 28th, 2023.
Denis Shapovalov is the 26th seed at the 2023 French Open and is ranked 31st on the ATP Tour. The Canadian has seen his form drop off spectacularly over the past months, and seems far away from the player that recently broke into the top 10. He had a fairly disappointing clay court swing also, with a Third Round run in Barcelona being the only performance of note. There is something going on with Shapovalov but I am hoping that he returns to his top 10 form soon, as he is way too talented of a player to be struggling for this long.
Brandon Nakashima is unseeded here at the 2023 Roland Garros and is ranked 52nd in the world. That ranking will soon jump into the top 50 as he recently reached the Semi-Final in Lyon, losing a close three setter to Arthur Fils. He is much more well known for his hard court prowess, but that result showed that he can play on the dirt also, and he will be backing himself here against the struggling Denis Shapovalov.
This should be a relatively comfortable win for Denis Shapovalov, but he has been anything but reliable over the past year. He certainly has the higher upside on clay and I think he will still win this, but I am not comfortable betting anything other than the outright winner. Conservative bettors should probably stay away from this one given Brandon Nakashima's recent form, but I am pretty confident that Shapo gets the job done here at the 2023 French Open.
