Opinion
The French Open – the second of the grand slam tennis tournaments to be held in 2022 – will again feature a good contingent of Australian tennis players trying to win the title at Roland Garros and become the first Australian man to do so since 1969 when Rod Laver beat Ken Rosewall to win the title in an all-Aussie final.
It was the final act in a show of Aussie strength that started with Jack Crawford in 1933 but blossomed in the period from 1953 to 1969 when seven different Australians won the title a total of ten times. Since that time, pickings have been extremely thin for the Aussies, with only two men – Phil Dent (1977) and Pat Rafter (1997) – making it to the semi-finals.
Current rankings both suggest that the six Australian men currently ranked in the top 104 and therefore eligible for direct entry to the main draw have not performed sufficiently well to be considered any more than an outside chance for the title.
Our highest-ranked male player currently is Alex de Minaur, whose official ranking is 34, but due to him making the quarter-finals at the recent Rotterdam tournament, he has a current ranking of 32.
This difference of two places in the rankings is important as he currently sits on the cusp of being seeded for the French Open as the highest 32 ranked players will generally be seeded, and this means they are placed in the draw in such a way that they will not meet another of the 32 highest ranked players in the draw until the fourth round (the Round of 16), meaning that – if they are true to form – they should not have an early exit from the tournament.
Is Demon Australia’s best chance for a male French Open title?
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Of course, there are nearly always upsets and seeded players can be bundled out at any time. It is also true – especially in recent times – that due to COVID-19, injury or some other circumstance not all the top 32 ranked players will play in the Open and this would result in Alex’s seeding and chances of success both being higher.
Alex has made the second round of the French Open on two occasions.
Two of the other Aussies likely to get direct entry into the tournament (Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis) both have third round performances while James Duckworth and Alexi Popyrin have both won first contests but fallen at the second hurdle. John Millman has not progressed past the first round in Paris.
Among those able to obtain entry into the qualifying tournament that will decide the last 16 places into the main draw, Nick Kyrgios is the best placed (and the best performed, having made the third Round of the main draw on two occasions).
With both an official and current ranking of 122, Kyrgios could be ranked at 18 or higher with a good chance of going through. Aleksandar Vukic could also score a low ranking despite being the third seed in the current Bengaluru Tournament and being rolled by a qualifier in the Round of 16!
Christopher O’Connell has made it through to the first round of the main draw previously, but Alex Bolt has fallen in the first round of the French Open qualifiers six times while Max Purcell and Marc Polmans – on the cusp of qualifying for the qualifiers – have never made the main event.
Under an arrangement between the four slams, one lucky Aussie will receive a wild card to the main event, but I would be surprised if we need to stay up late in week 2 to see any Aussie men compete!
Whether it’s aces or races, try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp for great odds and a great punting experience. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
Rafael Nadal has hailed the brilliance of Alex de Minaur, calling him "a great player" after the Australian forced the Spanish legend to say…
The clay season promises to be one of high level and tight margins. With the Monte Carlo open just around the corner, it will…
In incredible scenes, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz's quarter-final clash with Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells was halted abruptly due to a "bee invasion." Less…
Marathon man Jordan Thompson has finally clinched his first ATP Tour title, with the Australian upsetting Norwegian Casper Ruud to lift the trophy in…
Alex de Minaur has earned the perfect 25th birthday present, booking a place in the final of the Rotterdam Open with an emphatic revenge…
While watching the recent Australian Tennis Open I became obsessively fixated on the same thought. Why has no one done a television biopic or…
