OK so the French open is only a few days away now as it start on Sunday and as its the second grand slam of the season, and we will see the world's top players fight it out to win the major silverware. So here are my thoughts on who are the contenders and who might win, also who I will say a bit more about the withdrawals from the tournament.
So to start with the ladies favourites right at the top we have Serena Williams, who is on a 24 match winning streak going into the French, however despite her recent success on the red dirt, she has only won at Roland Garros once and it was 11 years ago. Also Serena suffered a heavy defeat last year in the first round so it does leave a slight question mark over how well she will do this year. But Serena has improved beyond belief since this time last year and it would insane to write off her chances of winning the title this year, and if she then that winning streak can carry on through to Wimbledon and the hard court season. So Serena is the overwhelming favourite but whether or not she can win again we will just have to wait and see.
Next up we have Maria Sharapova who is the defending champion and she completed her career slam last year by winning at Roland Garros, and next to Serena there is no finer player on the clay. So can Maria win again????? Well that is the question and her success this year will be based purely on how her draw will open up, and if Serena goes out before the final then Maria will automatically become the favourite and her chances will go up dramatically. But again Maria will just have to and wait see how things pan out for her. After this there is Victoria Azarenka who so far has been out with injury for half of the season, but she made a good return to the action last week at the Italian open, but I have to admit that I don't rate Vika's chances of winning as clay remains her weakest surface, but I can see her go deep into the second week maybe the semi finals, but not beyond that.
Next up there is Sara Errani, last year's surprise finalist, who has been on great form ever since as she broke into the top 10 for the first time in her career. Errani definitely has a very good chance to go deep again at RG but it seems doubtful that she will be able to fight her way past the big hitters such as Serena, Maria or Vika, so her chances of winning will depend purely on how well or bad the big hitters do, but I can Errani do pretty well all the same. Then there is Sam Stosur, who has had a bit of an up and down season so far, but she is a very good clay court player, and having reached the final three years ago, Stosur has a good opportunity to do well again here. And finally I will mention Li Na, the former champion from two years ago, who also made the final of the Australian open this year, and Li is great on clay as we know, so surely she will do well again this year.
Now onto the men's and I'll start with the bad news that Andy Murray has decided to withdraw from the tournament due to his lower back injury which had been worsened by his return to the red dirt this year. Last year Andy reached the quarter finals and he also came under fire choosing to participate after suffering from a back spasm during his 2nd round match, and he was accused by Virgina Wade of being a drama queen, but this year his back problem really resurfaced and it turned out to be as Andy rightly said "a proper injury". So its an unfortunate decision for Andy to make, but undoubtedly the right one as this will hopefully give him the time he needs to recover and get ready for Wimbledon, and let's hope he get's better in time for his best shot at winning a major this year. Also after Andy, Juan Martin Del Potro has withdrawn from the French Open as well due to suffering from a virus, which sees the tournament lose another big name, and let's hope Delpo recovers soon, as he is due to play at Queens, as is Andy at the start of the grass court season.
Now onto the contenders, starting Novak Djokovic, who came agonisingly close last year to completing his career slam or the Nole slam as it might have been known. Nole still remains the only player on the tour who has a shot at defeating Rafa at the French and this year you could argue that he has an even better one as Rafa, while he is not far off his best form, he still ins't quite at the peak he was last year, but that might change next week. There is also the possibility that due to the withdrawal of Andy Murray that it could see Rafa meet Nole on the same side of the draw, which means they will have a semi final clash. But I'm sure we would all rather see Rafa and Novak face each other in the final for a rematch of last year, and hopefully the draw will work out in that favour.
Which brings me onto Rafa who has made a remarkable comeback this season after a 7 month absence due to his knee injury, and so far he has reach all eight finals of the tour events he has played, and seven of them have been on clay. So to say that Rafa is going into the French open with a fair bit of clay court preparation behind him is something of an undestatement! And for me he remains the overwhelming favourite to win the title again, and this time it would be for the 8th time, which is amazing in itself. And the only complication for Rafa this year is of course Djokovic, who he could either face in the semi final or the final, and in either match Rafa will need to be on top form. But as the French is just round the corner, Rafa has worked very hard and he is not far off his best form and I think come next week he will be back in full stride and the king of clay will be mighty tough to stop.
Other outside contenders include Tomas Berdych, who so far has had an excellent clay court season and he has already defeated Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in Madrid and Rome. However Berdy does lack the belief in the big matches and on the key points, and that is usually what stops him from beating the likes of Rafa, who on their last meeting Rafa beat him very convincingly, but Berdych I'm sure will do quite well. Next up there is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who last year did well at the French and reached the quarter finals where he had an amazing match against Djokovic and even had several match points before losing out, but hopefully Tsonga will do well again here. And lastly I thought I would mention David Ferrer, who outside the Rog, Rafa and Nole, is the best clay court player in the game, and he deservedly reached the semis last year, where he suffered a crushing defeat to Rafa. However this year Rafa hasn't quite been at that form, and their last two matches in Madrid and Rome were real battles, and if they face each other again let's hope they have another epic clash. Unfortunately for Ferrer though I can't see him get past Rafa, and despite how good he is he will always play second fiddle to his compatriot, but I would be great to see Ferrer do really well this year, as he deserves too, as he's one of the best, most dynamic and entertaining players to watch on the tour.
So that's it for now, I'll be back with more once the French Open get's under way.
Bye the now!
No comments:
Post a Comment