French Open 2019 preview: Rafael Nadal, Simona Halep aim to defend titles

The tennis venue, Stade Roland Garros, has been given a facelift ahead of the showpiece second Grand Slam of the year. The French Tennis Federation has also added a new show court — Court Simonne-Mathieu to attract fans and please players while hosting the French Open.

But will there be a new champion in Paris at the end of the coming fortnight? Rafael Nadal, the King of Clay, will be aiming to extend his reign on terre battue with a record of 12th title. Nadal comes into the French Open after a few perplexing losses on clay but seems to have hit form at the right time by lifting his first trophy of the season in Italy last week.

The Spaniard’s dominant run at the Rome Masters included a bagel over World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the player who most likely has a chance of stopping Nadal. Djokovic has won the previous three Grand Slams and is looking to repeat his incredible feat of holding all four majors at the same time. Djokovic may have lost the final in Rome but his title win in Madrid in the week before, dispelled any concerns regarding his form.

While Nadal and Djokovic are the two top favourites and sit on the opposite ends of the men’s draw, it’s Roger Federer who is grabbing the spotlight before the tournament begins. Federer returns to the French Open for the first time since 2015 and fans and pundits alike are eagerly waiting to see how far he can go. For the past two years, the Swiss had opted to skip the clay court season entirely and many believe that this could be his last appearance at Roland Garros.

It’s been a decade since Federer lifted La Coupe des Mousquetaires but it would be silly to discount him from the list of contenders. The 37-year-old made the quarters of both the clay events he played this year and will attempt to make another deep run over the next two weeks.

The Big Three – Djokovic, Nadal and Federer hold the past nine major titles between them and are unlikely to cede to the hungry generations behind them. But there are plenty of young players desperate to break the new ground. Leading the way is 25-year-old Dominic Thiem, who is seeded fourth and is in the top half of the men’s draw along with Djokovic.

Thiem reached the final of Roland Garros in 2018 and has had an impressive season so far, winning his ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells followed by victory in Barcelona in April, where he defeated Nadal in straight sets.

Another contender from the Next Gen is Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. Tsitsipas shot into the limelight when he upset Federer at the Australian Open and with his results at the young age of 20, he’s shown why he’s being touted as the next big thing in tennis. He is one of the three players who defeated Nadal on clay in the past three years and could potentially face Federer again in the quarter-finals.

There are a few other dark horses in the men’s field, like Monte Carlo champion Fabio Fognini, fifth seed Alexander Zverev and 18-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime but it will be a tall task for any of them to upset the current order.

The men’s side of the tournament will mostly be dictated by the question of who can prevent a Nadal-Djokovic final, however the story couldn’t be more different when it comes to the women. The WTA in recent years has been headlined by its depth and unpredictability, and even though Naomi Osaka won the US and Australian Open, the chances of a third straight Slam seems unrealistic for the World No. 1.

Osaka is the top seed but she has never reached a final on clay, a surface she is still trying to get comfortable on, and was hindered by an abdominal injury in the warm-up events before French Open. Simona Halep, the defending champion, is also in Osaka’s half of the draw and is the leading favourite for the women’s crown despite not having won a title this season.

Halpe was defeated by Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens in the Madrid final two weeks ago and Bertens has been one of the most consistent players on clay. However, fourth seed Bertens has landed in the tricky third quarter of the draw which also features 2018 French Open runner-up Sloane Stephens, 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza, seven-time major winner Venus Williams and World No. 9 Elina Svitolina. If Bertens manages to emerge out of her quarter to reach the semi-finals, she could go on to clinch her maiden major title.

The women’s challenge in Paris, will eventually come down to a tussle between players who love and thrive on this slow surface – like Halep and Bertens, and players who can make small adjustments to their power hard-court game – like Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova. Both Pliskova and Kvitova picked up titles in the tune-up events leading up to Roland Garros and among the long list of potential contenders.

It is almost impossible to talk about contenders without mentioning Serena Williams. Serena will probably go down in the history as the greatest tennis player of all time but she is still searching for her first title since her return after her pregnancy. Serena reached two Grand Slam finals in 2018 but she comes to Paris with only one clay-court match since last year’s French Open. She was pulled out for last two tournaments, due an injured knee and faces an uphill battle in her quest for that elusive record-equalling 24th major title.