Seton Hall
Jose Balderrama Ornelas breaks down the upcoming French Open
Date: May 24, 2019By: Jose Balderrama
This year’s French Open, also known as Roland Garros, comes along with great excitement for tennis fans all over the world. Roland Garros has always been seen by fans as the real start to the tennis season, given that there is basically a four-and-a-half-month gap between the Australian Open and the French Open.
It always seems that the season really kicks off with Roland Garros, with the Wimbledon always being within a month’s reach, and the U.S. Open starts three months after the French Open. This year’s tournament is probably one of the most question filled draws in recent memory. Nobody really knows what to expect from any of the players, being that there are so many new faces who have been playing well and a lot of old ones who have been inconsistent throughout the year.
Despite these uncertainties, there always seems to be one constant when it comes to Roland Garros, and that is the “King of Clay” Rafael Nadal. Nadal has one a total of 11 French Open titles in a span of 14 years, including the last two, which is unheard of in the modern era. No matter how many competitor’s year in and year out come into the tournament playing well, Nadal always appears to come out on top even if he wasn’t playing so hot beforehand.
We will take a dive into the men’s draw to see which players might have the best chance at success in this year’s installment of Roland Garros.
Men’s Draw
The men’s draw is always much steadier and more predictable than the women’s draw, especially over the last 15 years with four to five players pretty much dominating the ATP circuit. This year might be a bit different though, as each of these players have not shown anything promising throughout the year.
Roger Federer, who comes in seeded number three is not getting any younger and he wasn’t able to finish his last match in the Quarterfinals of the Italian Open without having to retire due to injury.
Andy Murray announced his retirement at the beginning of the season ahead of the Australian Open, indicating that he might play Wimbledon one more time but no other tournament outside of that.
However, Novak Djokovic, is probably in the best position out of everyone in the draw, being seeded at number one and having one the only other Grand Slam of the year so far. He did, however, lose in the championship of his last tournament the Italian Open, to none other than the fourth juggernaut, Nadal.
Nadal, seeded second, has been very shaky this whole year and did not win a single tournament all the way up until the last competition that serves as a preparation for the French Open. This might have been all the momentum he needed heading into the second Grand Slam of the year, a place he calls home.
All of this being said, there are many players who have been playing well this season who might be able to surprise a lot of people and maybe even take home the trophy.
Two of the names of those who I think could be the most dangerous for our top three are youngsters Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev, who are up and coming players who have proved they can compete with the best of them, beating the best players in the world in multiple occasions.
Two others are classic fixtures and crowd favorites at Roland Garros, Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils. These players have been around for many years and they always make noise at the French Open.
Tsonga is known for his lively and inspiring interactions with the crowd, while Monfils is recognized for his unique style of play, including constant diving and crazy trick shots that get the crowd roaring on his side. It would not surprise me to see either of these players go far in the tournament as the momentum could carry them a long way.
But no player is more likely to make some noise in a surprising fashion than 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas. He is a young player with a bright future who only came into the spotlight recently reaching his first Grand Slam Semifinal in the Australian Open this year. He is the youngest player in the Top 10 and has reached his highest career ranking of number six, due to his two titles in 2019.
Taking all of this into account, and having the rest of the draw in mind, I believe this is what you can expect from this year’s Roland Garros.
Quarterfinals
(1) Djokovic vs (5) Zverev
(4) Thiem vs (22) Lucas Pouille
(3) Federer vs (6) Tsitsipas
(2) Nadal vs (21) Alex De Minaur
Semifinals
(1) Djokovic vs (4) Thiem
(6) Tsitsipas vs (2) Nadal
Championship
(1) Djokovic vs (2) Nadal
Champion
(2) Nadal
We could give the French Open whatever narrative we want, but only one player truly has reign over Roland Garros. Nadal is the “King of Clay” and he will continue to be just that until the day he retires.
Jose Balderrama Ornelas can be reached at jose.balderramaornelas@student.shu.edu
