Open Field At Both Events At French Open

The withdrawal of 14-time champion Rafael Nadal from the French Open that starts on Sunday has made it a rather open field. The legendary Spaniard’s eye rubbing and mind boggling record at Roland Garros is all too well known and in his absence Novak Djokovic will probably start as favourite.

Only two of the Serb’s record 22 Grand Slam titles have come about at the French Open. But the one thing in his favour is the fact that none of his nearest challengers, all of whom are bunched together in the top ten in the ATP rankings going into the year’s second Grand Slam, has an impressive record at the premier clay court event.

Casper Ruud ranked No 4 and Stefanos Tsitsipas ranked No 5 have the best record. The former was a finalist last year and the latter made it to the title clash the year before. Nadal’s almost total dominance hasn’t given any other player a chance at Roland Garros. Even Roger Federer, winner of 20 Grand Slam titles, won the French Open only once.

The one added incentive for Djokovic is that a win at the French Open will give him his 23rd Grand Slam title that will take him past Nadal and he will be on the pedestal on his own. The current world No 3 however has been in indifferent form during the clay court season in the run-up to the French Open and at 36 with a number of young challengers breathing down his neck he will have to be at his best to regain a title he last won in 2021.

Besides Djokovic two other players who will be the subject of much focus are Carlos Alcaraz and Deniil Medvedev. The 20-year-old Spaniard who has been the cynosure on tennis courts ever since his sensational triumph at the US Open last year has had a pretty good clay court season so far and his confidence will be sky high right now especially after taking over again as No 1 from Djokovic.

He was a quarterfinalist last year at the French Open when he had not yet peaked. Medvedev’s best at Roland Garros has been to make it to the quarterfinal in 2021 but his hopes have been bolstered by his most recent performance, the title at the Italian Open last week at Rome with successive victories over Tsitsipas and Holger Rune.

This saw him return to No 2 in the latest ATP rankings.

If it is a rather open field in the men’s event in the absence of Nadal the women’s field is even more so. Ever since the retirement of Serena Williams a couple of years ago there has been no real dominant player.

The nearest women’s tennis came to producing a dominant player appeared to be Ashleigh Barty. The Aussie won the Australian Open (2022), the French Open (2019) and Wimbledon (2021), had risen to the No 1 ranking and with 15 career titles by the age of 25 she certainly looked to be the next big thing in women’s tennis.

Dramatically however Barty announced her retirement last year two months after winning the Australian Open and when she was still ranked No 1.

The open field is best driven home by the fact that since Serena won her last Grand Slam in 2017, the Australian Open which left her with 23 career Grand Slam singles titles, one short of the all time record held by Australia’s Margaret Court, the 24 Grand Slams have been won by no less than 15 different players.

At various times Garbine Muguruza, Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber, Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep and Barty by their performances at Grand Slam events and fortified by their No 1 ranking have all bid fair to become the dominant player around the WTA circuit. But Barty has retired and the others have since slipped in the rankings.

Going into the French Open, the nearest to a dominant player appears to be Iga Swiatek. For starters the 21-year-old from Poland is way ahead on the top in the WTA rankings. She has won the French Open twice.

She is also the defending champion and bidding to become the first woman to win back-to-back titles at the event in 16 years. She however retired in the quarterfinal of the Italian Open last week with a thigh injury so that would be a cause for some concern.

Her closest rival is Aryna Sabalenka who won the Australian Open this year and is in peak form. The second seeded Belarusian in fact defeated Swiatek in the Madrid Open final last month. Elena Rybakina too has to be one of the top contenders. Not only is the No 4 ranked player the reigning Wimbledon champion, she also won the Italian Open last week.

But emphasising the open field is the presence of players like Caroline Garcia of France who won the WTA Tour finals late last year and who is currently ranked No 5. Then there is the eighth ranked Maria Sakkari of Greece who was a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2021.

The chances of Jessica Pegula too cannot be ruled out. The American enjoys a career high ranking of No 3 and made it to the quarterfinals of the French Open last year. Another American Coco Gauff has not yet lived up to her early promise but she did make it to her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros last year before going down to Swiatek.