While journeyman, young guns, and everyone in between battle their way through the qualifying rounds of Roland Garros today, the focus and chatter around the grounds will rest firmly on the subject of Novak Djokovic.
The superhuman Serb has enjoyed the lion’s share of the spoils this year with a Grand Slam win in Australia and Masters 1000 wins in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Rome – and it’s still only May.
With clay court titles in Monte Carlo and Rome providing him with clinical wins over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Djokovic has ensured the favourite tag rests solely on his shoulders as this year’s second grand slam gets underway.
It’s no secret that the Serb desires the Coupe des Mousquetaires more than any other silverware the game has to offer. Indeed there is little else missing from his illustrious trophy cabinet.
However, there’s been a little problem winning the men’s title for the last decade, a big problem actually, with big biceps. Rafael Nadal has romped to the title on nine occasions in the last decade, and Djokovic has been his victim in six of those campaigns.
Try as he might to fight fire with fire, Djokovic has not found a way to out-grind Nadal and deny him the spoils of Paris. Year after year the Serb has been cast as the likely successor and year after year Nadal has buried his hopes beneath the clay of Philippe-Chatrier.
Despite a decline in his domination of clay over the past four years, Nadal has managed to rise to the occasion when it matters most, as he has done throughout his career.
Since 2011 Djokovic has enjoyed a 13-7 record against his main rival, with five of those wins coming on clay in Masters 1000 tournaments, the big lead-up events to the grand slams.
It must have been awfully frustrating for Novak these past three years especially, looking across the net at a man who just doesn’t know when to quit, who gets knocked down again and again, only to pick himself up off the dirt and triumph on the biggest stage.
Nadal stumbles into Roland Garros this year without a European clay title to his name, the first time he will do so in a decade. He admits he is low on confidence and isn’t the player he once was. On top of that, his low ranking of seven will open the possibility of facing a ‘Big Four’ member as early as the quarter-finals.
All this means little, though, once the tournament gets underway. Nadal has made a career out of comebacks against doubters and you’d be brave to write him off before seeing his early round form.
If anything, this year’s woes of Nadal and feats of Djokovic only serve to heap more pressure on the Serb’s shoulders. A loss, especially to Nadal, would be crushing. Indeed anything but the title will be utter failure for the formidable number one.
But that’s how it should be for a man wanting tennis immortality. Triumph and disaster are two imposters that require the making of greatness, and Djokovic will be leaving no stone unturned on the eve of his history-making attempt.
However it pans out, this French Open has some mouth-watering stories brewing, and a grand headline it will read whoever takes home the title.
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