Rafa reacquaints himself with one of his old friends. Another awaits in Paris.
One man looms above the rest in Paris, as usual. But a few other champions could step into his shoes if he stumbles. Meet the men to watch at Roland Garros....
Rafa reacquaints himself with one of his old friends. Another awaits in Paris.
One man looms above the rest in Paris, as usual. But a few other champions could step into his shoes if he stumbles. Meet the men to watch at Roland Garros.
The smart money:
1) Rafael Nadal: What more can be said about the greatest clay player ever to brand his mark on the terre battue? Nadal has reached the final at all eight events that he has entered this year, seven of them on clay, in a career-best streak that has accompanied ATP-leading tallies in titles (six) and matches won (36). Not since he won Roland Garros for the first time in 2004 has he suffered three or more losses in one clay season, and he already has dropped two this year. The Monte Carlo loss to Djokovic did not seem to derail Nadal’s confidence for long against other opponents as he swept through Barcelona, Madrid, and Rome to claim a top-four seed.
Even his most fervent fans could not have expected such an impressive comeback from the Spaniard, yet his detractors will note with some accuracy that he has produced form less overwhelming on this surface than in years past. Nadal has played more final sets on clay this year, going the distance against players like Dimitrov, Gulbis, and Ferrer, and his movement looks a shade less naturally explosive on some days. But those niggles are far from enough to consider him anything less than the presumptive favorite at the tournament where has lost only once. He holds a perfect record there against his current archrival (Djokovic) and his former archrival (Federer), neither of whom even has taken him to a final set in Paris.
Knocking on the door:
2) Novak Djokovic: The only man to defeat Rafa during the European clay-court swing, Djokovic joined Nadal in completing the trio of Masters 1000 titles on this surface. Perhaps even more important is his trio of victories over the greatest clay player ever at each of the clay Masters 1000 tournaments, the most recent in Monte Carlo this year. Nobody else has defeated Rafa at any of those three events since 2009, which shows how far Djokovic stands ahead of the Spaniard’s other rivals. His Monte Carlo victory reminded observers how well his backhand matches up to Nadal’s heavy topspin and how he can cover a clay court as suffocatingly as the man who built his reputation on it.
Responding to adversity in that match with poise, the Serb stood less tall at the other 2013 clay events and brings little momentum to Roland Garros. He has won just one set in their four meetings there, although he took a step forward by reaching his first final last year at the only major that he has not won. Not seeking a Nole Slam of holding all four majors simultaneously, Djokovic may feel less pressure if he returns to that stage and especially if he faces Nadal before it. He arrives in Paris with the momentum in their rivalry even if a host of more general concerns about his form surround him.
3) Roger Federer: Not until Rome had he even reached a final, playing a reduced schedule and navigating around a back injury. Other than Nadal, Federer is the only active man who ever has won Roland Garros, and his knowledge of what it takes to win there arms him mentally against the challenges that will arise. Since that title in 2009, he has produced mixed results in Paris from a quarterfinal loss to Soderling and a tepid effort against Djokovic to a transcendent masterpiece that toppled the Serb in 2011. Federer never has defeated Nadal at Roland Garros, of course, and he has registered just one victory over the Spaniard since his peak period in 2007. That one win came with a significant asterisk, a day after his rival’s 243-minute semifinal against Djokovic in Madrid.
Outclassed again by Nadal in Rome, Federer will hope to land in the opposite half of the draw and for someone to conveniently remove him in advance. If that surprise should happen, he could repeat what he did in 2009, for the week in Rome
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