The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament for men that has not yet been taken over by the next generation of tennis players.
While Carlos Alcaraz triumphed at the US Open in 2022 and at Wimbledon in 2023 and Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open this year, five of the last eight singles titles at Roland Garros went to Rafael Nadal and three to defending champion Novak Djokovic. But the signs are now pointing towards a transfer here too.
Nadal probably on farewell tour
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Nadal has won this major 14 times, but the injury-plagued Spaniard is now a long way from his heyday. Even though he hasn’t quite made up his mind yet, like his former clay court crown prince Dominic Thiem, this will probably be his farewell year on the tour.
He won five of the eight matches he played this year, and suffered three defeats in 115 matches in his entire French Open career. Nadal had considered competing on his biggest stage ever, but he is not going to let that stop him.
On Monday, the 37-year-old, who will be playing until June 3, delighted organizers and fans with his arrival at the facility, and on Tuesday he went to his first training session to good applause from the spectators. Every step of the crowd favorite is followed and publicized via social media. Nadal fulfills almost every request for an autograph.
“… all his rivals are afraid”
But he has not come just to receive the well-deserved farewell applause. He will “fight for the things I have fought for over the last 15 years, even if it seems impossible now.”
A 15th triumph for Nadal at the French Open would be a big surprise, after he has only played three tournaments since mid-January due to a thigh injury and never made it past the round of 16 in what will almost certainly be his last appearances in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome.
But the competition still has respect for the former world number one. “When Rafa steps onto a clay court,” said Russian Daniil Medvedev, “all his rivals are afraid.” And for Djokovic, Nadal is still “my biggest competitor of all.”
Djokovic awaits first triumph in 2024
While Nadal has been receiving signals from his body for some time that his career will soon end, Djokovic is far from thinking about it. But his results this year alone make a successful title defense seem difficult.
The “Djoker” is still without a title win in 2024, so there is no way the 98-time tournament winner can win his 100th anniversary title in just over two weeks. In addition to semi-final defeats at the Australian Open and in Monte Carlo, there were irritating third-round defeats against Luca Nardi (ITA/Indian Wells) and Alejandro Tabilo (CHI/Rome).
The events leading up to this latest out and the potential impact of it left Djokovic perplexed. Two days before the defeat in Rome, a bottle that fell out of a fan backpack fell on his head while signing his autograph.
“It was as if a completely different player had been in my place. No rhythm, no speed, no balance in a shot,” said the worried 37-year-old, who turned 37 on Wednesday. However, an examination gave the all-clear. “My head is fine, everything is fine. I feel good,” said Djokovic this week in Geneva.
The focus was on endurance
The world number one added the tournament in Switzerland to his tournament schedule in order to increase his account from only 17 matches played this year. Recently he has invested a lot in his physical condition, with his new fitness coach Gebhard Gritsch.
The Tyrolean was already responsible for Djokovic’s fitness from 2009 to 2017 and from 2018 to 2019, and has now been hired again. Djokovic: “We worked on endurance and strengthened the physique that I need for five-set matches on the demanding clay surface.”
Match practice is what he needs now. “This is what I need to try and get into the shape I need for Roland Garros. There is no better training for me than matches.” In the first round in Geneva, Djokovic beat the German Yannick Hanfmann 6:3, 6:3 on Wednesday.
By the way, Djokovic is in danger of losing his lead in the world rankings to the South Tyrolean Jannik Sinner after Paris, even if he wins his 25th major title and thus defends all of his points from last year in Paris.
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2024-05-23 05:46:56
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