Yahoo Sports French Open 2017 men's singles guide: Can anybody stop Rafael Nadal from making tennis history?
The men's singles at this year's French Open promise plenty of drama, with a number of young players hitting form at just the right time, while the top stars are struggling.
Rafael Nadal is the hot favourite to win the tournament, but the Spaniard has not won a Slam in three years. He will hope his fitness can hold up for two weeks, with an unprecedented tenth title in his sights.
The defending champion, Novak Djokovic, is struggling for form, as is Andy Murray, who has endured a miserable start to 2017. Meanwhile the likes of Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem will be confident of springing a few shocks having enjoyed superb clay-court seasons thus far.
Here, we run through some of the players to watch.
THE FAVOURITE: Rafael Nadal
The red-hot favourite to win an unprecedented tenth title at Roland-Garros. Nadal recovered from a persistent wrist injury to start the 2017 season in promising form, finishing as the runner-up at the Australian, Mexican and Miami Opens.
But – predictably – it is on the red stuff that he has truly shone. Nadal won three consecutive titles in Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid, before losing his first match on clay this season to Dominic Thiem at the Italian Open. It would be unwise to read too much into that defeat, however, as even at the height of his powers Nadal didn't manage to win all of the clay-court titles in one season.
THE DEFENDING CHAMPION: Novak Djokovic
It’s hard to believe that Djokovic’s maiden success at the French Open, where he confidently beat first-time finalist Andy Murray to complete a career Grand Slam, came just twelve months ago. Since then, Djokovic’s form and intimidating aura of invincibility have crumbled.
That defeat to Sam Querrey in the third round of Wimbledon was followed by a loss in the US Open final to Stan Wawrinka, Andy Murray overhauling him at the top of the ATP rankings and a shock second round loss at this year’s Aussie Open. But a run to the final of the Italian Open has at least given the World No 2 some hope, as has an intriguing new partnership with 1999 French Open champion Andre Agassi.
THE WORLD NO 1: Andy Murray
It has been a long time since the world’s highest ranked player has been considered such an outsider to win a Slam. But a mixture of poor form, illness and even a lack of motivation mean that Andy Murray starts this season’s French Open as the fifth-favourite with some bookmakers.
Clay has always been Murray’s least favourite surface, although he had appeared to make a breakthrough last season when he won in Rome and then finished as runner-up in Paris a few weeks later. There is no avoiding that he has been in terrible form – losing to Albert Ramos Viñolas, Thiem, Borna Coric and Fabio Fognini in his last four tournaments – although at least at the French he has Ivan Lendl back in his corner.
THE YOUNGSTER: Alexander Zverev
Before the draw, this slot would likely have been dedicated to Dominic Thiem, the 23-year-old Austrian up-and-comer who reached the semi-finals of the tournament last season and beat Murray in Barcelona recently. But he received no luck at the draw ceremony on Friday, and could potentially face David Goffin in the fourth round, Djokovic in the quarters and Nadal in the semis. His opening match against the enigmatic Bernard Tomic is also a potential banana skin.
But keep an eye out for Sascha Zverev. The young German beat Djokovic at the Rome Masters to break into the top 10 last weekend, becoming the youngest player to win a Masters title since the Serb himself, who won in Miami at the age of 19.
THE DARK HORSE: David Goffin
The current World No 11, Goffin has never reached the last four of a Grand Slam, having lost a quarter-final at Roland-Garros last year as well as losing to Grigor Dimitrov in the last eight of this year’s Australian Open.
But the Belgian is very strong on clay and has fond memories of Paris, having announced his arrival on the men’s tour with a run to the fourth round back in 2012. He’ll have to do it the hard way, mind, having been placed into the tougher half of the draw featuring both Nadal and Djokovic.
