With a record 13 French Open titles, Rafael Nadal is tennis’s anointed king of clay, so dominant at Roland Garros that officials last year unveiled a colossal steel statue of him at the entrance to the tournament grounds.
Rafael Nadal’s clay-court reign faces fresh challenge at French Open
With a fluency on clay and a competitive fire that mirrors Nadal’s, Alcaraz toppled the Spanish champion, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and third-ranked Alexander Zverev in succession to win the Madrid Open, his fourth title in the past three months. It was a herculean feat, suggesting he possesses both the mental and physical heft to dethrone the clay-court king at Roland Garros, where Nadal boasts a 105-3 record, and defeat all comers to claim a first Grand Slam title.
The prospect of a Nadal-Alcaraz Roland Garros, clash, however, probably hinges on whether Nadal can get past Djokovic, the defending champion.
All three were placed in the same half of the tournament’s draw, which is particularly bad news for Nadal, meaning he will have to beat Djokovic in the quarterfinals and Alcaraz in the semifinals, assuming the early rounds unfold according to seeding, simply to contest his 14th career Roland Garros final.
If the subtext of this year’s French Open is a looming shift of hegemony atop men’s tennis, it’s one Nadal isn’t raging against but insists he accepts as normal in life and sport.
“First thing, he is young, he is new, and all the new things are much more interesting than older things, without a doubt,” Nadal recently said of Alcaraz, who handed him a rare loss on the red clay in Madrid, where he was a five-time champion. “When you see a new car, always looks better. When you see a new phone, always looks better than the old one. It’s something that’s normal in this life.”
But this is hardly the only narrative as the world’s top tennis players contest the season’s second major.
The sport has convulsed with controversy in recent months — from the WTA’s decision to withdraw all tournaments from China over still-unanswered questions about the safety and self-determination of Peng Shuai to Australia’s banishment of Djokovic before the first Grand Slam of the year because of his refusal to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The French Open, which gets underway Sunday, will open its gates to a full complement of fans, media and players.
Unlike at this year’s Australian Open, unvaccinated players such as Djokovic are welcome.
And unlike at Wimbledon, which follows in June, players from Russia and Belarus will be welcome despite Russia’s attack on Ukraine, provided they remain outwardly neutral and nonaligned.
“There will be no flag, no sign. … There should be no mention relating to Russia or Belarus,” Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, director general of the French Tennis Federation, said this week when she elaborated on the federation’s decision, which was announced in March. “It is a fair position and the right one to hold.”
In an unprecedented rebuke to Wimbledon for its decision to ban players from Russia and Belarus from this year’s tournament, the ATP and WTA, which govern men’s and women’s tennis, respectively, announced Friday they would not award ranking points for any players’ participation.
“The ability for players of any nationality to enter tournaments based on merit, and without discrimination, is fundamental to the Tour,” the ATP said in a statement. “The decision by Wimbledon to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing in the UK this summer undermines this principle and the integrity of the ATP Ranking system. It is also inconsistent with our Rankings agreement. Absent a change in circumstances, it is with great regret and reluctance that we see no option but to remove ATP Ranking points from Wimbledon for 2022.”
World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and seventh-ranked Andrey Rublev will be able to compete in Paris. The French Tennis Federation’s decision also clears the way for seventh-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and their compatriots from Belarus to take part in the women’s event.
The women’s field boasts a clear favorite who is as precocious as Alcaraz in 20-year-old-Iga Swiatek, the French Open’s 2020 champion who has been close to untouchable during the 28-match winning streak she carries into the first round.
For Djokovic, who turns 35 on Sunday, the French Open will be his first Grand Slam of the season — and his first since he lost the 2021 U.S. Open championship to Medvedev in straight sets.
Deported from Australia after a legal challenge failed, Djokovic found himself, along with Roger Federer, one title in arrears to Nadal in the tally of most Grand Slam titles in men’s history after Nadal stormed back from a two-sets-to-none deficit against Medvedev to claim his 21st.
Despite his lack of customary match play because of his vaccine stance, Djokovic has quickly rounded into form. He swept to the Italian Open title this month without conceding a set, proclaiming himself pleased with his progress and at peace with the controversy in Australia.
“I always try to use these kind of situations and adversity in my favor to fuel me for the next challenge,” Djokovic told reporters. “It’s something that I never faced before, so that amount of pressure and everything that I was feeling in the first few months of the year, as much as I’ve felt pressure in my life and my career, that was something really on a whole different level. But I feel it’s already behind me. I feel great on the court. Mentally as well. I’m fresh. I’m sharp.”
The year’s edition of Roland Garros is the first time Djokovic and Nadal have contested the same Grand Slam in 12 months, since Djokovic ousted Nadal in the semifinals en route to the 2021 French Open title.
While Djokovic appears in form, there are questions about the fitness of both Nadal and Alcaraz.
Though separated by 17 years, Nadal and Alcaraz share a similar build (both are 6-foot-1; Nadal, at 187 pounds, is heavier) and bring similar physicality to their games, blasting groundstrokes with jarring velocity. They also share competitive DNA, attacking every point as if it may be their last.
After his triumph in knocking off three of the world’s then-top four players in Madrid, Alcaraz skipped the Italian Open to rest an ankle he injured during his match against Nadal.
And Nadal is contending with a chronic foot injury that sidelined him for five months following an early-round loss at Washington’s Citi Open in August. He underwent surgery during the hiatus, but it has not relieved the pain, Nadal recently revealed, and he will be accompanied by a doctor at the French Open as he continues working to reclaim his movement and confidence on court.
“My body is like an old machine,” Nadal said after the foot injury flared up during a third-round loss to Denis Shapovalov at the Italian Open. “To put this machine on again, it already again takes some time. Is not the same when you have 19 years than when you have almost 36, with all the issues that I went through in my tennis career.”
Source: WP
