The French Open atleast the Men’s section looks the easiest
to predict given how Nadal has dominated most of the big clay court events and
the only event he actually failed was the Madrid Open with the controversial
Blue Clay Court in which Roger Federer won and also claimed the #2 ranking once
again. Though Federer can always be a thread he has never won Nadal at Roland
Garros and though Federer has not won a slam since the 2012 Australian Open and
the man has kept such high standards that despite making the quarters of every
slam since then we keep saying he is player on terminal decline. The clay of
Roland Garros is surely not in swan song as if he needs to win here he needs
someone to knock out Nadal and also ensure that he manages to outsmart Novak
Djokovic, the best player on tour for the last 2 years.
Nadal looks early favorite and could well go on and win his
7th French Open title if he stays fit while the likes of Djokovic
and Murray will try to beat him but beating Nadal in slams especially on clay
is even more tougher as the opponents have to win 3 sets to beat the man. Robin
Söderling has done it once but he is out injured and he won’t be there to
challenge Nadal once again while the other Spaniards including David Ferrer, Fernando
Verdasco and Nicolás Almagro have to play out of their skins to beat
Nadal. The French has traditionally done well during the first week of the
tournament and with a big home crowd the likes of Tsonga, Simon and Monfils
will try to go for the quarter finals while Potro could be the most dangerous
floater out there and could even be the dark horse for the event.
The women’s have become very unpredictable and for once
given her recent form Maria Sharapova seems to have finally mastered the clay
court and looks likely to complete her Grand Slam by winning this year’s French
Open. She is the clear early favorite and if she does gets going there is no
one who can stop her. Among the others who have a chance includes the world # 1
Victoria Azarenka, former world # 1 Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwańska who
all could potentially reach the semifinals.
Others like Petra Kvitová, Li Na, Venus Williams and
Samantha Stosur will be looking pull off some upsets while former winner Ana
Ivanovic will be hoping to regain some form which led her to a title in
2008. The women’s can always through a first time winner but for this year you
can safely assume that even if it does throws a new winner it will not be
someone totally new like how when Kvitová won the Wimbledon last year.
The French Open is always a fun event and with the Paris
crowd you can expect them to really raise the decibel levels on the court. It
should be a good event and for once some sort of shocker may not come about in
this event.
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