Roland Garros French Open 2010 - Who would win this year?
The Roland Garros this year is well on its way and people are expecting a lot from this year’s competition as well. No Tennis fan can forget the last year’s tournament which gave the Mighty Federer his record Grand Slam titles, as well as his only Roland Garros title. Nadal, the King of Clay, however, lost the semi-final to Soderling, after which his winning streak of four French Open titles came to an end.
Soderling, despite his best performance in the semis, failed to bring his A game to the champion Federer, and lost in an easy contest.
Many consider that Federer was lucky last year, as he did not have to face Rafa in the tournament. He has a history of losing his best matches against the World No. 2, and the story could have been different if he had met Rafa in the tournament. So, what would be the story this year? Is Federer going to win again and add to the tally of his grand slam titles or is Nadal going to bounce back and reclaim the title that was supposed to be his asset? This remains to be seen and speculations are already going on in the world of tennis.
The first round matches are almost over and we have already seen many good players. Federer and Soderling have had a comfortable win in their respective matches, winning in straight sets. The third seed Serbian, Novak Djokovic, still seems uncomfortable on clay, as he had a slight glitch in his match and took four sets to win it. Andy Murray had the toughest challenge and he had to wait for another miracle, like the one happened two years ago in Wimbledon against the same opponent, to overcome the Frenchman Richard Gasquet. Rafa, still has to play his match but his recent performances in Madrid, Rome and Monte Carlo, showed that he is still the best and the one to beat in clay. The final four seem easy to pick i.e. Rafa and Soderling, again in the Semis, while Federer would probably face Murray. All these players seem in good touch right now and they have an equally good chance to win it, but there is this one person who stands out of the rest of the players.
If we take a look at Federer and see his career, we would notice that he has a very high probability of falling against Rafa. Yet, there are certain things that need to be considered. First, previously Federer had not won any French Open title and his trophy cabinet seemed empty. Second, he was going for the big record of the highest grand slam titles, thus, becoming the greatest Tennis player ever. Also, Federer has a history of working harder in the grand slam matches rather than in small tournaments. So, his recent slip ups against the Clay Legend can be disregarded and he can be termed as a favourite, yet again, this year. One thing is for sure, right now, Rafa seems the only player that can stop Federer from defending his title, and if a Soderling like glitch happens again, Federer would win it all.
The question here is whether something like that would happen again to Rafa. I don’t think so, as I believe that the King of Clay is back in his best form and loving his favourite field. He seems full of energy and enthusiasm, which means that old Rafa is back, and a slip-up seems improbable. The recent victories and his performance during the Clay season provide enough support to the claim that Rafael Nadal is going to reclaim his title as the King of Clay.
The only thing that the fans can wish for is that Rafa stays healthy and does not show signs of fatigue, which was prominent last season. The title is only his to take and I don’t see a lot of challenge for him this year not to win it.
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