It has been a forgettable clay court season for the "King of clay". Not a bad run by any means, the Spaniard won the title in Madrid and reached the final in Rome. However, the once invincible clay-courter has shown some chinks in the armour.
In saying that, Nadal has shown to be almost impossible to beat over five-sets at Roland Garros. He has only lost one time to a rampaging Swede, Robin Soderling. Nadal is the most physical player we have ever seen, his immense top spin wears players out over time. It's consistent pressure that builds up over five-sets that sees his opponents implode almost every single time.
While the 2014 clay court season has been under par for Nadal so far, he will be there during the final few days of the French Open and we know that to be beaten, players will need to play out of their skin against him.
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| Credit: Zimbio |
Novak Djokovic has had an interrupted season due to injury, but he was at his sparkling best at Rome beating Nadal to win the title.
Roland Garros is the only grand slam title the Serb needs to add to his collection, so we have to expect he will be hungrier here than any other Grand Slam. We know he has the clay-court credentials, he was a runner-up in 2012 and is a four-time semi-finalist.
Over five sets I'm still not sure Djokovic can stay with Nadal physically but he's not far off. If there is anyone that can steal the show, it's Novak.
No one would be surprised to see Novak Djokovic raising the trophy at the end of the two weeks.
"I would never bet against Rafael Nadal"
Roger Federer and David Ferrer have to be seen as contenders. Roger Federer is definitely past his peak but another run to a grand slam title wouldn't seem out of place, but it would at his least favoured grand slam at Roland Garros.
David Ferrer is last year’s runner-up, but the Spaniards main concern is that he doesn’t have the fire power, the weapons, to win a grand slam. Ferrer winning the title would be a boil-over but the hard worker has the heart, the fitness and the mentality to win. The only question is whether he can step up and attack?
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| Source: Zimbio |
Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka are players that can beat anyone on
their day. Andy Murray will go into the grand slam with an unusually low
seeding at number eight. While he isn’t in the best form of his career, the Scot
will go into the tournament with the belief that he can come out as the
champion and that will go a long way.
Wawrinka was a shock winner at the Australian Open, but we’ve always known he has the game of a grand slam champion. For the Swiss number one, it’s about the belief, it’s about confidence. For Stan, it will also be about the consistency, he can play one good match and then terrible the next. He knows he can reach the apex now, but can he do it again?
I would never bet against Rafael Nadal.
