Switzerland’s Roger Federer is pictured during a training session on the eve of the French Open at the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris yesterday. Winner of 17 Grand Slam titles, Federer bagged his only French Open title four years ago. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic practises during a training session on the eve of the start of the French Open. Djokovic has won six Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2013 Australian Open; the 2011 Wimbledon and the 2011 US Open.
PARIS: Old foe Novak Djokovic and damp weather conditions are the most likely obstacles to claycourt machine Rafael Nadal’s bid for a record-extending eighth French Open title over the next two weeks.
Nadal, who last year beat Bjorn Borg’s record of six Roland Garros crowns, has lost only one match on the Paris clay and has already won five titles on the slow surface this year.
However, Serbia’s Djokovic ended the Spaniard’s eight-year reign at the Monte Carlo Masters to show he is beatable on the red dust after all.
Cold and wet weather could also threaten Nadal, whose devastating top spin works best on dry courts.
Temperatures are set to barely reach 15 degrees Celsius in the first week of the French Open, with rain showers forecast every day from Tuesday onwards, conditions reminiscent of 2009 when the Spaniard lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round.
“The only negative thing is this cold,” Nadal, who came back this year from a seven-month knee injury layoff, told a news conference on Friday.
Nadal, with 11 Grand Slam titles on all surfaces to his name, is just happy to be back playing and winning at Roland Garros again this year is not the be-all and end-all.
“If you can ask me if I win one Grand Slam during the whole year or win six tournaments like I already did, I will choose to win six tournaments,” said the third seed, who first meets Germany’s Daniel Brands.
World number one Djokovic, in contrast, has put a lot of pressure on his shoulders having yet to triumph at the French Open.
He has asked his support team and reporters not to tell him who his potential second or third round opponents are so he can focus on his opener against Belgian David Goffin.
Djokovic, who lost early in Rome and Madrid, could meet Nadal in the semi-finals of a tournament deprived of world number two Andy Murray, who pulled out because of back problems.
“This is the tournament that is the number one priority of my year, of my season. This is where I want to win and I’m going to go for it,” Djokovic, who beat Nadal in the Monte Carlo final, told a news conference.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet, seeded sixth and seventh respectively, will be out to end France’s 30-year drought for a men’s Grand Slam champion.
In Tsonga’s way stands second seed Roger Federer, who has a smooth-looking draw until a potential quarter-final clash with his sometime nemesis.
Meanwhile, Yannick Noah believes that none of the current crop of French players are capable of matching his exploit in winning the French Open 30 years ago.
The dreadlocked star’s straight sets win over Mats Wilander in 1983 remains the last male home title win, coming as it did 37 years after the previous one by Marcel Bernard in 1946.
In that time, only Henri Leconte in 1988 has managed to reach the final for France and he lost in straight sets to Wilander.
“It’s not that I think they are no good. It’s just that the guys ahead of them are stronger.
“Jo (-Wilfried Tsonga) is capable of beating a top five player at any time, if he plays an exceptional match, but he can’t do that twice in a row. Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, over five sets, they are just better.”
“Jo hasn’t been as fortunate as I was, that’s for sure. I think that overall we have similar levels, it’s just that a door opened up for me.
“There was one guy to beat (that year) - Lendl - and I crushed him (in the quarter-finals). Against Mats, at that time, I had no problems. I was able to dominate him with my game.”
Bearing out what Noah said is Tsonga’s defeat to Djokovic in last year’s quarter-finals when he let slip four match points in the fourth set before losing 6-1 in the fifth. It was an eye-opener for the popular Tsonga, who, like Noah, has an African-born sportsman father who married a white French woman.
“After that match I realised that there was a huge gap between me and those kind of players. So I did everything I could and everything that was possible to improve,” he said.
“I took a coach so I could practise even more seriously, and I also tried to have very well balanced training sessions. I was totally committed.” AGENCIES
