The French Open in Paris, which runs from May 23 to June 6, is just about here. This is also to a very exciting time in tennis, when two Grand Slams, the French Open and Wimbledon, follow each other closely.
While Roger Federer dominated the French Open last year, Rafael Nadal can travel to Paris with a lot of self-confidence. After his struggles with knee problems last year, he seems to be fit and ready with three tournament victories in Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid on the way to the Coupe des Mousequetaires. By the way, Nadal has tied my husband’s record of 17 Masters in 1000-tournaments – and he is only 23 years old. What an accomplishment!
As far as the men’s side is concerned, I am expecting a duel between Federer and Nadal. When you look at the competition between these two statistically, Nadal becomes the clear favorite, since the Spaniard leads against the Swiss with 14:7 victories, including a sensational record of 10:2 on clay. The road to the final will also be a bit smoother due to the fact that other favorites like Del Potro or Davydenko have pulled out due to inuries.
Regarding the women, I think the field looks more open. My tip for the favorite goes to the No. 1 and 2 set Williams sisters or Justine Henin. After her great comeback at the beginning of this year with her competing in the Australian Open final, I think she will also play an important role at the French Open. She likes playing in Paris, she has won 4 of her 7 Grand Slam titles there and the clay is ideal for her game. Unfortunately, Kim Clijsters had to pull out because of her foot injury so the best hope for Belgium lies on Henin. I also expect good matches from other players like Jankovic, Wozniacki or the defending champion Kuznetsova.
The different winners of the preparation tournaments on clay show the surprises that can come along with this surface, such as Aravene Rezai, who defeated Venus Williams in the Madrid-finale. Because especially on clay, some players can take advantage of their skills depending on the sliding technique and weather conditions. With dryness the play on clay is faster, with coldness and rain it is slower and since the rallies usually take longer on clay, peak physical fitness is more of a factor than on other surfaces. So I am excited to see if there are similar surprises to last year à la Soderling and I am looking forward to many good matches.
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