French Open 2012 – Preview – Tennis Special (Part One)
Second Grand Slam of the season, French Open, will start at the clay courts of Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France from coming Monday. All the top players from around the world are heading to France in hope of landing the Roland
Garros title but fans will be cheering their favourite stars to win it.
On the men’s side, all the attention has got stuck at the ‘Big Four’ i.e. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Interestingly, all four of these highest ranked players are aiming for glory at this year’s
Roland Garros.
Reigning world number one, Djokovic, is bidding to become only the first player on the ATP World Tour to hold all four Grand Slams at a time since Rod Laver did it for the last time in 1969. The Serbian is already the title holder
of Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open. By winning the French Open he can achieve what none of the legends between this period have succeeded in doing.
According to the legendary Swedish player, Bjorn Borg, if Djokovic wins Grand Slam it would be the biggest achievement in the history of tennis.
The Swede said, “The last one that did that was Rod Laver. But you have to look at the competition – its unbelievable today. If Djokovic could do it, that would be the biggest achievement, of course. It’s a long way to go but he
is playing unbelievably good tennis. As long as he stays fit and healthy, he has a chance.”
14-time Grand Slam champion, Pete Sampras; Federer and Nadal had held three Grand Slams at one time but none of them managed to complete the set of all four Majors.
On the other hand, Nadal is trying to win his record breaking seventh title at his favourite hunting ground. The Spaniard has dominated the red dirt like no other player has done in recent past. He has made a number of records
on the slowest surface and is tied with Bjorn Borg in the race of most Roland Garros crowns at six.
Meanwhile, Federer is aiming to become only the first player to win 17 Grand Slam titles. With already 16 Major trophies under his belt, he will also complete the second set of career Grand Slam by winning his second French Open
title.
At the same time, Murray is hoping to become the first British player to hold a Grand Slam title since Fred Perry in 1936. The Brit, who has ended as the losing Grand Slam finalist on three previous occasions already, will try
to break his deadlock.
All the tennis pundits have their own say while choosing their favourite but Nadal is looking in the best position to win the French Open men’s singles title. After beating his closest rival at the moment, Djokovic, in consecutive
matches at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and Internazionali BNL d’Italia final, the Spaniard has proved that he is still the King of Clay.
Federer succeeded in grabbing title at one of the three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events on clay courts, as he won the Mutua Madrid Open. However, it does not count much, as the event was held on controversial blue clay.
Murray is the least favourite among ‘Big Four’ as he is suffering with a back problem and the British number one failed to impress at any of the three clay tournaments he participated in this season.
There are some other players to look for like David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych and others but they don’t pose a serious threat to the top four.
In the men’s doubles event, there are also a number of teams who have a chance to clinch title. Daniel Nestor/Max Mirnyi, Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, Leander Paes/Radek Stepanek, and Mahesh Bhupathi/Rohan Bopanna can grab the ultimate
prize.
(Continued in Part Two)
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