French Open Predictions
The French Open begins tomorrow as the players take to the red clay of Roland Garros to contest the second Grand Slam of the year. There are two distinctly different takes on this tournament, depending on whether you are talking about the men’s or women’s draw.
On the men’s side, most people are saying they should just hand the trophy to Rafa Nadal tomorrow and make the rest of the matches over the next two weeks exhibitions. Nadal has been virtually unbeatable on the clay leading up to this tournament and there is every reason to expect him to walk away with his incredible tenth French Open title. Rafa himself is probably the only person standing in the way of the title, either through injury or just a horrible day.
In addition, there are not many guys you can point to that could challenge Nadal. Dominic Thiem has given Rafa his only loss of the clay court season, playing high risk tennis and not allowing Nadal to drive him off the baseline. But Thiem’s high energy, high risk game may not allow him to get far enough to meet Nadal. The other threat is Stan Wawrinka who won this tournament in 2015. Stan has not had a great season but he always manages to lift his game for the majors. Novak Djokovic, last year’s winner to complete his career Grand Slam, has basically lost it this year and hiring Agassi as his coach will not be able to fix all that is wrong for Novak. Nick Krygios possibly has the game to threaten Nadal but is fighting injury, the death of his grandfather, and his usual emotional issues. And Andy Murray just can’t move well enough on clay to compete.
It’s a totally different world on the women’s side where, with Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka both out on maternity leave and Maria Sharapova not qualifying because of her drug suspension, it is as wide open as any major tournament in the Open era. What makes this tournament even harder to predict is that many of the women with the best form coming into the event are nursing injuries. And all of them have shown they are beatable on any given day. Last year’s number one Angie Kerber has had a dreadful season and last year’s defending champion, Garbine Muguruza, has been erratic and is nursing a neck injury. Simona Halep has had a good clay court season but is nursing an ankle injury. Aggie Radwanska has the potential to go deep in this tournament but maybe not enough to get to the finals. Others that deserve mention are the indomitable Dominika Cibulkova, Elina Svitolina who has risen all the way to #6 in the world this year, local hero Kristina Mladenovic, and the ever youthful Svetlana Kuznetsova. Take your pick from any of those and another dozen or so that I haven’t even mentioned. It will all make for an exciting and interesting tournament.
Predictions