Roland Garros - Men’s Singles Preview

The 2019 Roland Garros Men’s Singles, aka Rafa Nadal benefit, is usually a contest between the Spaniard and those at the very top of the tennis tree. Nadal has won 11 of these, and the seedings of those he has beaten in the finals have been:

unseeded,1,1,1,5,3,1,4,2,3,7.

And 2019 looks likely to be similar, if recent tournament results are any guide.

Defending champion Nadal must start favourite - he has lost just twice when playing the clay court major, and he has won on 86 occasions over that time. Although beaten at the semi final stage in both Monte Carlo and Madrid, Nadal found the spark in his final lead up event in Rome. He won the title, overcoming world #1, Djokovic, in the final.

If he is to play Djokovic in Paris, it won’t be until the final, as they are the one and two seeds, therefore at opposite ends of the draw.

The draw on paper appears friendly enough for Nadal, with qualifiers in the first two rounds.  Probably David Goffin in the last 32 will be the first test for the second seed. 

To reach the quarter finals, Nadal could face Basilashvili or Pella in the round of sixteen. This should be easy pickings since he’s never lost to either.

The quarter final opposition is drawn to be seventh seed Nishikori, but I fancy Daniil Medvedev may sneak through. It’s all academic because Nadal will win and book a semi final spot against Roger Federer - well the tennis world hopes it will be the third seed. 

The Swiss maestro has a more problematic road to the final four. Assuming he wins through the round of sixteen stage, probably against Diego Schwartzman (not guaranteed, given the Argentine’s great form in Rome), Federer faces a quarter final battle against possibly Stefanos Tsitsipas, Stan Wawrinka or Marin Cilic.

And Nadal has regularly knocked off Federer whenever they’ve met on the Roland Garros turf.

So, I can’t mount a plausible argument against Nadal filling one of the places in the men’s singles final in a fortnight.

Top seed, Novak Djokovic found his best form when successfully grabbing the Madrid title a week or so back. He dismissed two of the in form clay courters in the process. Yes, he was defeated by Nadal in Rome the following week, but successive finals is a pretty good sign coming into Paris.

Gunning for a second Roland Garros trophy, which would mean holding all four majors at the one time, a feat he achieved in 2015/2016, Djokovic has a reasonably tough opening match. Young Polish gun Hubert Hurkacz will test the world #1 but Djokovic should survive, and also progress beyond the third round where likely opposition should have been crowd favourite, Frenchman Gilles Simon.

A potential third round clash will feature two young players with star potential - Canadian Denis Shapovalov and Borna Coric. The winner is likely to have Djokovic as a round of sixteen foe.

Fifth seed Alexander Zverev, who just picked up a title in Geneva, will probably do battle with Fabio Fognini, Monte Carlo champion, in the round of sixteen. The prize for the winner ? A date with the world number one in the quarter finals. 

Fourth seed, and last years runner-up, Dominic Thiem, has a dream draw, and if he can negotiate a path past Gaël Monfils in the fourth round, he may have Juan Martin del Potro in the final eight.

The powerful South American will find the early stages tricky, with Geneva finalist Nicolás Jarry his first challenge, and Lyon finalist Felix Auger-Aliassime a likely third round hurdle.

My forecast, the little worth it has:

Semi finalists

Novak Djokovic (1) v Dominic Thiem (4)

Stefanos Tsitsipas (6) v Rafa Nadal (2)

Final

Novak Djokovic (1) v Rafa Nadal (2) and I can’t separate them just yet.