Djokovic to upstage Federer and Nadal at French Open?
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have dominated discussions about who will be the potential champion at this year’s French Open, but could Novak Djokovic upstage the world’s top two players and walk away as king of Roland Garros?
To do so, the world No. 3 would need to find a way past the defending champion, Federer, a man who collects Grand Slam titles with frightening regularity. In Nadal, Djokovic would need to brush aside a man whose destiny could be to be known as the greatest clay-court player of all time, a man who has lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires four times in his career so far.
Chances are the 22-year-old would have to fight past both in consecutive matches – the semi-final and the final – if he’s to claim a second Grand Slam title. While Juan Martin del Potro showed that defeating both Federer and Nadal at the same major was possible when he recorded wins over both men on his way to the US Open crown last year, he’s the only player to have defeated both at the same Grand Slam.
Djokovic, though, is one of the few men other than Nadal and Federer who will arrive at Roland Garros with the experience of having lifted some Grand Slam silverware, which he did at the 2008 Australian Open.
At Melbourne Park that year, the Serb defeated Federer in the semis before overcoming surprise finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the decider.
Djokovic is also the most likely of the former Grand Slam champions in the draw to make an impact at the dirt court major. Andy Roddick (2003 US Open Champion) hasn’t played a single warm-up tournament on clay this season and the French Open has never been a happy hunting ground for the big-serving American, his best performance coming last year when he reached the fourth round.
Dual Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt, for all his famed grit and fighting spirit, is a better chance at causing an upset on the grass courts at Wimbledon. Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion, regained title-winning form on clay in South America earlier this year, but the veteran has recorded progressively worse results as the European clay court tournaments have progressed.
The sometimes controversial player – he’s both won fans for his impersonations of fellow players and lost them when he was perceived as being a quitter after withdrawing from matches deep in the second week of a series of Grand Slams – enters Roland Garros with some questions over his health, after illness and allergies forced him to pull out in the quarter-finals of his home tournament, the Serbia Open in Belgrade, this month and he also missed the Madrid Masters 1000 as a result of his health problems.
Djokovic’s form on clay before that was, however, encouraging as he reached the semi-finals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and the Italian Open in Rome, losing to Fernando Verdasco on both occasions.
A French Open semi-finalist in 2007 and 2008 (losing to Nadal on both occasions), Djokovic knows how to reach the pointy end of proceedings at Roland Garros, but will more than likely need to figure out a way to defeat the Spaniard at his favourite Grand Slam should be get there again this year.
Djokovic has run Nadal close on clay before, however, as a four-hour semi-final in Madrid in 2009 will testify, but in nine previous matches on the surface he’s yet to work out a way to win against Rafa. That could prove to be a major stumbling block to his title aspirations at Roland Garros this year.
As the world No. 3 and with some Grand Slam pedigree behind him, Djokovic deserves to be regarded as the best of the rest at the French Open, but to upstage both Federer and Nadal to win the title might just be too much to ask.
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