French Open Betting / Ralph Ellis / 27 May 2010 /

The French number one has been having a whinge about the scheduling at Roland Garros. But if he doesn't change his attitude soon, Jo Wilfried Tsonga could be in trouble when he meets a rising star in the third round, says Ralph Ellis.

Eric Clapton insists on having room in his dressing room for a football table. Queen once asked for a mud wrestling ring - complete with wrestlers - to be erected outside their dressing room for post-show entertainment. Jennifer Lopez insists that everything in her trailer is white, including the furniture.

Yes, one of the joys of being a hugely successful entertainer is being able to dictate a whole load of conditions before you are willing to perform. It's called The Rider, and the number of demands in it rises according to the status of the star. American soul singing legend Aretha Franklin won't eat backstage food unless it's served on a silver plate.

There's no evidence that French number one Jo-Wilfred Tsonga has become quite so demanding, but he has thrown a bit of a tantrum to the organisers at Roland Garros. They forced him to play his first round match on Sunday when he'd asked for more time to prepare, and the 25-year-old got into a proper little paddy about it.

"We are in France, I'm French number one. They should listen to me when I wanted to play or start," he snapped after cruising past Josselin Ouanna in the second round. "If you look at Andy Murray, if he decided on a day or hour at Wimbledon then nobody is going to impose anything else on him."

He has actually got a point as far as Wimbledon is concerned, because if there's one thing I can guarantee you now it's that Britain's number one will play every one of his matches on Centre Court as the third game of the day. That's what happened last year. It suits Murray because he likes to do some gentle practice in the morning on match day, and it suits Wimbledon because they get the best TV ratings if the sole British star is on court early in the evening when all the Mums have finished making tea for the kids.

However, while Tsonga might be number 10 in the world I'm not sure he has done enough yet to deserve superstar status. And if he's still in moaning minny mode tomorrow when he plays rising Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker he could have plenty more to grumble about.

The 6ft 4ins Dutchman has already beaten him once on clay this year, and at 21 is being hotly tipped as one of the game's next big stars. He showed in that match in Barcelona that he's definitely not one to grumble, ignoring heavy rain to finish off a victory that helped him break into the world's top 50. Certainly that means Tsonga is far too short at [1.46] to beat De Bakker.

Robin Soderling is another who just gets on with the job - he took just 71 minutes to beat the promising Taylor Dent and only dropped five games in his first round win too. It makes him worth backing at [11.0] to emulate last year's achievement of reaching the final - certainly far better value than supporting Rafael Nadal at [1.19]

Five things you might not know about Thiemo De Bakker

1. Born September 1988 in The Hague, his mum Carlieke took him to her tennis club and he taught himself how to play while he was waiting for her.

2. A natural sportsman, he was aged three when he got his first swimming certificate and at four was playing with the eight-year-olds in the local soccer club

3. He likes a game of cards to pass the time but isn't a match for older brother Yori, a mechanical engineering student, who supplements his income by playing in poker tournaments

4. He won junior Wimbledon in 2006, and finished the year as the number one junior

5. Richard Krajicek, the 1996 Wimbledon champion, is his mentor

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