The year’s second Grand Slam tournament is now less than a week away and all eyes will be on Rafael Nadal as he attempts to win a record-breaking tenth French Open title.
With the world’s top two, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, both battling poor form in the first half of the season – and Roger Federer announcing he would bypass the tournament for the second consecutive year – Nadal will start the hottest of favourites to regain his crown at Roland Garros.
The Spaniard has already claimed titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid, and was on the verge of claiming his eighth title in Rome until he was upset in the quarter-finals by Dominic Thiem.
But as always, his rivals will be up for the challenge, but whether he can hold them off and win a record tenth title at Roland Garros, by which time he will have just turned 31, will remain to be seen.
Let’s have a look at the main contenders for the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, starting with the undisputed King of Clay, Rafael Nadal.
[4] Rafael Nadal (ESP)
French Open history
Best result: Won nine times (2005-9, 10-14)
Last year’s result: Third round
Grand Slam results so far in 2017
Australian Open: Runner-up
Titles so far in 2017: Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid
Following a prolonged period plagued by injury and poor results at major tournaments, this year’s French Open might provide the perfect stage for Rafael Nadal to return to the form only he knows best.
After winning his 14th Grand Slam title at the 2014 French Open, the Spaniard did not reach another major final until this year’s Australian Open, where he lost to Roger Federer in a thrilling five-set final.
That, and subsequent losses to his Swiss rival in the finals at Indian Wells and Miami would precede the return to form he has enjoyed on his beloved clay courts.
He achieved the ‘La Decima’ at Monte Carlo and Barcelona, and won his fifth Madrid title before losing to Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters held last week.
Now he arrives in Paris as the red hot favourite to achieve the ‘La Decima’ at the very Grand Slam tournament where he announced himself as a force to be reckoned with all those years ago.
Since saluting at age 19 in 2005, Nadal proved to be the impediment to Federer and Novak Djokovic completing their Grand Slam sets.
The Spaniard prevented Federer from completing his set four times between 2005-08 (the first year in a semi-final); likewise, he stopped Djokovic from completing his set between 2012-4, the middle year in a heartstopping semi-final in which the final set lasted 16 games.
Bad luck on his end allowed the two to complete their sets in 2009 and last year, respectively.
However, if Rafael Nadal’s resurgence in form this year is anything to go by, then it will take only a bad day at the office, as was the case in 2009 when he lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round, to stop the Spaniard from creating more history at Roland Garros.
Prediction: Champion
[2] Novak Djokovic (SRB)
French Open history
Best result: Won (2016)
Last year’s result: Won
Grand Slam results so far in 2017
Australian Open: Second round
Titles so far in 2017: Qatar
With the pressure of finally completing his Grand Slam set finally off his shoulders, defending champion Novak Djokovic can finally, for the first time in a long time, relax in Paris.
For each of the last five years, the Serb arrived at Roland Garros with the added pressure of attempting to win the French Open to complete the set of winning all four major titles.
He was on the wrong end of defeat to Rafael Nadal in the 2012 and 2014 finals, on either side of a gut-wrenching, five-set semi-final defeat in 2013, while in 2015 he was stunned by Stan Wawrinka in the final after defeating Nadal in the quarter-finals in straight sets.
It was fifth time lucky last year, when he defeated Andy Murray in four sets to finally shake the monkey off the back and become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles simultaneously.
The Serb has, since that glorious day last June, suffered a horrid form slump to the point that he sacked his entire coaching staff earlier this month. It was announced just recently, however, that he has hired the services of 1999 champion Andre Agassi for the fortnight in Paris.
So far the former world number one has won just one title for the year, in Doha, before being upset in the second round of the Australian Open by Denis Istomin.
Last week he reached the final in Rome but was upset by rising star Alexander Zverev in straight sets. Overall, his form so far in 2017 does little to suggest that he will successfully defend his French Open title.
However, I can see him going deep again.
Prediction: Final
[1] Andy Murray (GBR)
French Open history
Best result: Runner-up (2016)
Last year’s result: Runner-up
Grand Slam results so far in 2017
Australian Open: Fourth round
Titles so far in 2017: Dubai
After such a dominant second half of last season, one must be wondering what has gone so wrong for world number one Andy Murray this year.
His 2017 season got off to a good start when he reached the final in Doha, losing to Novak Djokovic, but his four-set loss to Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open must have set the tone for his poor start to the year.
In four of five Masters tournaments contested this year (he missed Miami due to an elbow injury), the best result he could muster was reaching the third round at the Monte Carlo and Madrid Masters over the past month.
He also dropped his opening matches at Indian Wells and Rome, the latter to local favourite Fabio Fognini, who recently became a father (his wife is former US Open champion Flavia Pennetta, who retired in 2015).
However, he has won one title for the year, in Dubai, defeating Fernando Verdasco in the final.
The French Open will mark the start of a six-month period in which Murray will be defending a mountain of rankings points, though he can gain some fresh points here by winning the title.
But given his mediocre form this year, it’ll be hard seeing him break through for his first title at Roland Garros.
Prediction: Quarter-finals
[3] Stan Wawrinka (SUI)
French Open history
Best result: Won (2015)
Last year’s result: Semi-finals
Grand Slam results so far in 2017
Australian Open: Semi-finals
Titles so far in 2017: None
The other contender to watch out for is 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka.
Currently the highest-ranked player without a title so far in 2017, the third seed will be keen to repeat the success he enjoyed two years ago, when he came from a set down to upset red-hot favourite Novak Djokovic in the final.
After reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the final at Indian Wells (losing on both occasions to Roger Federer), the 32-year-old has failed to reach the quarter-finals at his last four events.
This leaves him vulnerable to the possibility of an early French Open exit, as was the case in 2014 when he was upset by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in his first Grand Slam match since winning the Australian Open earlier that year.
He had also suffered a mediocre clay court season by the time he arrived at Roland Garros in 2015, but, as mentioned above, was able to win his second Grand Slam title defeating Federer and Djokovic en route.
Again, the Lausanne native will arrive in Paris on the back of a poor clay court season but will be one of the names to watch as he attempts to win his second French Open title and fourth Grand Slam title overall.
Prediction: Semi-finals
Other notable contenders: Alexander Zverev, Fabio Fognini, Dominic Thiem, David Goffin.
Notable absentees: Roger Federer
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