Vidur Bhatia, an ardent tennis follower, previews Roland Garros that starts next week
The French Open used to be the most unpredictable of grand slams among the men in the 1990’s until 2004. The Spanish and South American often dominated in that period (with the likes of Sergi Bruguera and Gustavo Kuerten) most of whom had grown up playing on clay. Unsurprising then, it was another Spaniard who dominated on the red dirt for the best part of the last two decades. With Nadal withdrawing from this year’s edition, there is a massive opportunity for a new champion to be crowned.
Djokovic, though, would be the obvious favourite given his experience and performance in best-of-five sets grand slams despite his set backs during the clay court season. Beyond him, you have Alcaraz, who is top-seeded and perhaps second favourite. While recently repeating the Spanish double with titles in Barcelona and the Madrid Masters to back up his excellent showing in the Sunshine Double on hardcourts this spring, the young Spaniard has shown he remains a force to be reckoned with and is the real deal.
Other contenders from Gen-Z include Rune, Rudd and Sinner. Rune, like Alcaraz, has shown he is not intimidated by the big names, and has impressed with his runner up finishes in both the Monte Carlo and Rome Masters. Winning a Grand Slam though may be too big a step just yet. While Rudd won Estoril (an ATP 250 clay court tournament) last month and was a semi-finalist at Rome last week, one feels that Alcaraz and Rune are a step ahead. Sinner has too been fairly consistent and it may only be a matter of time before he wins a big tournament.
You cannot discount the slightly older guard of Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Rublev and Zverev. Medvedev has had a great year so far and achieved what was once thought to be highly unlikely – making peace with clay by winning the Rome Masters and admitting that he likes the surface. As the second seed, he will have a lot to live upto. Tsitsipas has disappointed quite frankly on a surface that he usually has good results. Rublev had a great result winning in Monte Carlo but one feels winning a grand slam may be presently beyond reach. Who knows what would have happened had Zverev not got injured in the semi-finals of last year’s French Open? His long time out to recover, however, means he has yet to reach the form of last year.
Among the women, it should be a three-way race between the defending champion Iga Swiatek, the reigning Wimbledon Champion Elena Rybakina and this year’s Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka. Once thought to be unstoppable, Swiatek has shown vulnerability against these two players who have grown in confidence after winning grand slam titles.
Rybakina has backed up her Wimbledon title with winning Masters titles in Indian Wells and Rome while being a finalist at the Australian Open and in Miami. Sabalenka has grown in self-belief after winning her maiden grand slam in Australia. She recently won the Madrid Masters beating Swiatek in the final after losing to her a fortnight before in the final of Stuttgart.
Swiatek holds a 5-3 head-to-head advantage over Sabalenka and 3-1 on clay. Interestingly, against Rybakina, Swiatek has a 1-3 losing record. Sabalenka, in turn, has a winning record against Rybakina. Given Swiatek’s success at Roland Garros, winning two of the last three editions, she would have to be given a slight edge coming into the tournament. It won’t be plain sailing though.
We can’t ignore the other players in the women’s draw that could go deep based on recent form: former champions Barbora Krejcikova and Jelena Ostapenko and former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
A tournament historically known for upsets, the French Open 2023 promises to be exciting. If only we could have looked forward to hearing the words “Allez Roger”.
I am rooting for Alcaraz. But the way things are going there could be some interesting upsets.