It’s the second major event of the tennis calendar year, and the first of the summer double-header alongside our very own Wimbledon. Once again, beautiful Roland Garros will play host to the French Open, and the question on everybody’s lips once again is will this be Novak Djokovic’s year as he seeks to complete the career Grand Slam?
The Waiting Game
A discussion of a men’s Grand Slam event naturally has to begin with Djokovic, who will launch his twelfth attempt at winning on the Roland Garros clay. For perhaps the greatest player to ever take to the court not to have won the French Open is crazy, and surely it is a case of when, rather than if.
But that said, how badly does the psychological aspect impact upon the Serb? His trophy cabinet is lacking one rather obvious piece of silverware, and as we know in sport often the harder you try the less success you have – regardless of what the coaching manuals might tell you.
The other slice of bad news for Djokovic is that despite the sad decline of Roger Federer as a force to be reckoned with on clay, there are at least three dangerous contenders who once again stand in his way in France.
The Best of the Rest
If the above has been enough to put you off the 5/6 shot Djokovic then perhaps one of the following will tickle your fancy.
The bookmakers – namely bet365 and Coral – have Rafael Nadal down as the 4/1 second favourite, and that’s partly because of a fine clay court career which has led the Spaniard to nine French Open titles, and partly because in recent weeks he’s looked back to his best on his favourite surface; Nadal claimed back-to-back titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona in April, and reached two subsequent semi-finals in May (where he was beaten only by Djokovic and Andy Murray).
However, the leftie’s serve appears to be vulnerable – his first serve percentage has been particularly low recently – and his old weapon of choice, the lacerating double-backhand, appears to have lost its lustre. We’re certainly not writing off his hopes, but surely there are stronger candidates.
Remarkably, given that it is his least favourite, the bookmakers seem to fancy Andy Murray’s chances at Roland Garros. He’s 5/1 with the likes of Betfred and Paddy Power, and that’s because of a huge upswing in clay court form in recent times. He’s reached the last four of each of the last three slow surface events he’s entered – beating Djokovic in Rome after the Serb had beaten him in Madrid, and he could well have reached his first French Open final in 2015 but for a fine rearguard effort from Novak in the fifth and deciding set of their semi-final.
But Murray will be the second seed this time around, which ensures he will avoid the world number one until the final, and that could prove handy given Djokovic’s 23-10 head-to-head lead between the pair. Incredibly, they’ve only met five times on clay in a rivalry that stretches back a decade or so, with the Serb again in the ascendancy at 4-1.
All of that aside, this could well be Murray’s best chance yet of reaching a Roland Garros finale.
And we can’t sign this article off without mentioning the mercurial Stan Wawrinka (14/1, Ladbrokes), who will surely defend his crown with some gusto here.
The Swiss ace heads taken over Federer as his nation’s best hope of a Grand Slam winner, and given that he is two from two in major finals he clearly comes alive on the big stage. A potential semi-final clash with Djokovic will be enough to put some punters off, but don’t forget he beat the number one seed within four sets in last year’s final.
