The subsequent, and maybe closing, cease on Rafael Nadal’s unofficial retirement tour has reaches its apex subsequent week on the French Open, the Grand Slam the place he’s received 14 titles and owns an unthinkable 112-3 general document.
However it is a totally different Nadal than the one who has proven up in Paris able to destroy all the pieces in his wake for almost 20 years. He’s days away from turning 38, ranked No. 276 on the earth and hasn’t reached the semifinal of any event since Wimbledon in 2022.
A lifetime of grinding for each level has left his physique in what looks as if a continuing state of disrepair. When Nadal is wholesome sufficient to play, he seems gradual out of the corners and may’t get sufficient energy on his serve to win simple factors.
And but… it’s Nadal on clay. Nadal at Roland Garros. Nadal prepared to go away all of it on the market for another run at an important event in his profession.
That chance of capturing glory one final time, faint because it may be, made Nadal’s placement within the draw one of many extra intriguing storylines of the event.
Thursday, we obtained the reply, and it wasn’t excellent news for Nadal followers.
The random draw positioned Nadal reverse No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev, who simply received the Italian Open final week and is certainly one of many favorites to win the title. This matchup is beautiful for Zverev as nicely: Within the 2022 French semifinals, they had been locked in an air-tight battle for greater than three hours when Zverev suffered a devastating ankle damage that will require surgical procedure and took him out of motion for the remainder of the yr. Nadal went on to win his twenty second Grand Slam title.
Regardless of all the pieces Nadal has completed in Paris and his 7-3 head-to-head document towards Zverev, he goes into this match as an enormous underdog. If he loses, it can doubtless be his final time ever enjoying at Roland Garros, bringing an finish to probably the most dominant run at a serious event in tennis historical past. And it might be the final time we ever see him in competitors.
Right here’s all the pieces you must know in regards to the French Open draw:
No clear favourite for males’s title
This has been an odd yr in males’s tennis. Past his mediocre outcomes, No. 1 Novak Djokovic isn’t passing the attention take a look at recently and has fired a number of longtime members of his teaching staff since dropping to Jannik Sinner within the Australian Open semifinals.
How have you learnt he is looking for one thing? Djokovic is enjoying proper now in a small event in Geneva, which is extremely uncommon preparation for him the week earlier than a Grand Slam. Djokovic has been candid in interviews that motivation, after setting the boys’s all-time document along with his twenty fourth Grand Slam final yr, has been a problem. Can he flip issues round in Paris?
However Djokovic isn’t the one contender with query marks.
Carlos Alcaraz, who appeared poised to win all the pieces final yr after beating Djokovic within the Wimbledon closing, is coping with a forearm damage and hasn’t appeared proper when he’s been on the court docket in latest weeks. Sinner, unquestionably one of the best participant on the earth this yr, harm his hip within the fitness center through the Madrid event and pulled out of Rome in his dwelling nation. There have been questions whether or not he would even be wholesome sufficient to play in Paris.
This can be a possibility for somebody like Zverev, Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev or Stefanos Tsitsipas — all of whom have a very good monitor document on clay — to win their first Grand Slam title.
Iga Świątek looms over the ladies’s subject
On the cusp of her twenty third birthday, Świątek enters because the heavy favourite to win her fourth French Open title. Although some gamers have been capable of chip away just a little bit at her dominance on different surfaces, she’s nonetheless nearly unbeatable on clay and comes into Roland Garros off profitable titles in Madrid and Rome − beating No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka within the closing each occasions.
One other Świątek-Sabalenka finał assembly in Paris appears doubtless. They’ve separated from the sector this yr, with Elena Rybakina capable of typically make it a trio on the high when she’s wholesome.
Having mentioned that, Świątek’s path to the ultimate seems like a reasonably robust one on paper. Former No. 1 Naomi Osaka, who has been steadily bettering since her return to the tour after childbirth, is a doable opponent within the second spherical. Former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova looms as a doable fourth-round opponent. And within the quarterfinals, Świątek may face both American Danielle Collins (32-9 this yr with two titles) or reigning Wimbledon champ and former French finalist Marketa Vondrousova.
If Świątek can get it carried out as soon as once more in Paris, Chris Evert’s document of seven ladies’s titles will formally be in jeopardy.
Is Coco Gauff ascending or leveling off?
It’s been tough to evaluate the place final yr’s US Open champion stacks up this yr. Gauff is ranked No. 3, however she hasn’t reached a closing since opening the season with a win in a warm-up event for the Australian Open. Her forehand is clearly extra constant than it was final yr, however her serve has fallen aside below strain recently. Gauff isn’t enjoying her finest tennis, however she’s nonetheless placing up a variety of good outcomes together with a semifinal final week in Rome.
Although Gauff loves the crimson clay and made the French closing in 2022, Swiatek is her largest obstacle to profitable a second main.
After dropping to her as soon as once more in Rome, Gauff is now simply 1-10 towards Swiatek and can doubtless should face her once more within the semifinals right here. Having mentioned that, Gauff obtained an honest draw and will be capable of cruise by the primary three rounds earlier than her first large problem towards No. 13 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia if the seeds advance.
Gauff’s projected quarterfinal opponent would both be Ons Jabeur, who hasn’t been in good type this yr, or the hot-and-cold Jelena Ostapenko. Total, Gauff seems like a very good wager to succeed in the semifinals simply as she did in Australia. However can she flip across the rivalry with Swiatek?
Different storylines price watching
With so many questions round Djokovic, Nadal, Alcaraz and Sinner, this is likely one of the most wide-open Grand Slams we’ve seen in years. Are there any American males able to taking benefit?
Taylor Fritz has posted some good clay outcomes this season, reaching the ultimate in Munich, the semis in Madrid and the quarters in Rome. He’ll have a problem proper off the bat with Federico Coria, an Argentinian who performs nicely on clay.
Tommy Paul, who received the junior French Open in 2015, is harmful due to how a lot this floor highlights his motion and athletic potential. He simply reached the semis in Rome and obtained a reasonably favorable path to the spherical of 16, the place he’d be projected to play Djokovic. Except Djokovic considerably improves his latest type, Paul would have an actual shot to win that match.
That is going to be an enormous yr for retirements in tennis, and two nice champions doubtless of their closing season − Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray − will meet within the first spherical. Murray is a former French finalist, whereas Wawrinka managed to beat Djokovic for the title in 2015. Alizé Cornet, one of many extra widespread French gamers, will likely be a sentimental favourite after saying that Roland Garros can be her closing event. She’ll face No. 7 seed Qinwen Zheng within the first spherical.
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Rafael Nadal, 14-time French Open champ, handed robust first spherical draw
