Rafael Nadal has been successful in 14 of the last 18 renewals of the French Open.
The Spaniard, as he has done in other clay court events, has proved too strong for his rivals in Paris over the last couple of decades. With doubts about his fitness going into the 2023 tournament, and there being fierce competition, Nadal’s grip on the trophy may come loose in June this year.
World Number One Alcaraz Bidding for Major Success
As documented in the BBC report, Carlos Alcaraz become the latest men’s player to become a Grand Slam winner when he won the US Open at Flushing Meadows last year. The Spanish star showed why so many tennis pundits have been raving about his talent for several years now.
In his third appearance at the French Open, and only his second in the main draw, the man from Villena reached the quarter-finals in Paris in 2022. He had wins over Juan Ignacio Londero, Albert Ramos Vilanos, Sebastian Korda, and Karen Khachanov, before being eliminated by the number three seed Alexander Zverev in the last eight.
Alcaraz is a player that is very comfortable on clay. He has won six ATP tournaments on the surface, including the 2022 Madrid Open, an ATP 1000 Masters series event. More recently, he prevailed in the 2023 Barcelona Open beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final. That is ideal preparation for the upcoming Grand Slam tournament.
As of May 4th, the former world number one is the +138 favorite in the online betting markets for the second Grand Slam of the year. Alcaraz has played some excellent tennis in 2023 and victory in Paris would allow him to double his tally in the big four events.
Djokovic Hungry for More Major Glory
🏆2️⃣2️⃣🙏🏼❤️ pic.twitter.com/EozfCqP66s
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 29, 2023
World number one Djokovic is level with Nadal on 22 Grand Slam singles titles. His latest success came at the start of the year in the 2023 Kia Australian Open. He won the event for the 10th time in his career.
Djokovic has lifted the trophy at Roland-Garros on two occasions. He was victorious in 2016 when he beat Andy Murray in four sets in the final. That success ensured he has won all four different Grand Slam events. His most recent success in the tournament was in 2021. The Serbian defeated Nadal in the last four as documented in the ESPN match report, while in the final, he came from two sets down to win a thriller 3-2 against Tsitsipas.
Only five players in the Open era have won the French Open three times or more, so should he regain the trophy, Djokovic would be joining an elite list. Success would keep him on track to win the Calendar Grand Slam this year. He came close to winning all four tournaments in 2015 but fell short in the US Open final.
Former Runner-Up Tsitsipas Hoping to Go One Place Better
Greece’s Tsitsipas is still bidding for his first Grand Slam success. He has reached two finals now but was beaten on both occasions by Djokovic. The world number five was one set away from the title at Roland-Garros in 2021, while earlier this year, he lost in straight sets to the Serbian in the Australian Open final.
Tsitsipas showed he can win big events when he prevailed in the 2019 ATP Tour Finals. He was successful in that tournament which featured the likes of Djokovic, Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, and Matteo Berrettini at the O2 Arena in London.
Stefanos Tsitsipas successfully defended his Monte Carlo Masters title with a straight-sets victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 🎾
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) April 17, 2022
The man from Athens is also a two-time ATP Masters 1000 winner. Both of those victories came on the clay courts in Monte-Carlo. He prevailed in the tournament in 2021 and he then defended his title 12 months later.
This will be Tsitsipas’ seventh appearance in the French Open. He has an 18-6 record at Roland-Garros. His run came to a surprising end in the fourth round in 2022 when Holger Rune knocked him out of the tournament.
The Greek player will be hoping to find the same level of form he showed when reaching the final two years ago. This year’s French Open will be the 127th edition in history.
The men’s final will be played on June 11 and the above three players will all be hoping to be involved in that match.