While Novak Djokovic has an impressive unbeaten record this year, Rafael Nadal’s record in Barcelona is nothing to scoff at. He is now on an unbeaten run of 25 straight matches and five consecutive titles in his home town tournament. He is not looking at six consecutive titles, however, having not played last year through injury.

Despite his dominance of the event, bookmakers have quoted Nadal at 1/6 to win another title. Those odds are not too bad considering there is little in the way of quality opposition in the field. His biggest threats would have come from Robin Soderling and David Ferrer. Soderling has already been eliminated and this is Ferrer’s first tournament following an injury layoff.

In head-to-head matches, Nadal is being quoted at 1/100 to win – not surprising since he is demolishing players on his way to the finals. Bookmakers are quoting Ferrer as second favourite at 10/1 with 20/1 the best of the rest. A Nadal/Ferrer final is at 6/5, probably one of the best bets in the tournament at present – it’s certainly better than 1/6 for Nadal.

Men’s tennis has hit an interesting period. Djokovic is the form player although he is currently out through injury – it will be interesting to see if he can pick up the momentum again. Roger Federer is now losing matches he would normally have won so he appears to be well and truly on the slide. Andy Murray will go down in history as another British player that could have, should have, but didn’t. Robin Soderling is a player that causes a lot of problems, but hasn’t quite hit the same standard as Nadal or Djokovic. He does remind one of Djokovic two or three years ago, however.

As we approach the three northern hemisphere Grand Slam events, it’s hard to go past Nadal and Djokovic. If they are in form, then you can expect them to dominate the tournaments. Fortunately, when it comes to tennis, you are only as good as today’s game – that always opens up great tennis betting options. In Barcelona – the best bet is a Nadal/Ferrer final at 6/5 and that’s our tip.