6 players who can challenge Rafael Nadal's supremacy on clay
Despite his lacklustre show this year, Rafael Nadal remains the player to beat on clay. While his performance at the Monte Carlo was far from immaculate, the gritty Spaniard has shown far too often that he is more than capable of shrugging off poor starts to the season and triumph at Roland Garros.In his ten appearances on the Parisian dust, Nadal has come undone only once: In 2009, when the Swede Robin Soderling got the better of him. Although many players have come mighty close to upstaging Nadal at his bastion, none have succeeded. However, if history has taught us one thing, it is that no one is invincible.Bearing that in mind, let us now take a look at five players who have the potential to upset Nadal’s apple cart at the French Open.
#6 Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka is the dark horse on the list. Although a clay-court specialist, Wawrinka has failed to progress beyond the quarter-final stage of the French Open. The 2014 Australian Open champion’s 2015 season has been a mixed bag.
After beginning the year on a thumping note with a win at the Chennai Open, Wawrinka failed in his bid to defend the Australian Open title, falling to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. Wawrinka then went on to win the ABN AMRO World Tennis tournament before being ousted in the second and third rounds at Indian Wells and Miami respectively.
His biggest loss, though, came at Monte Carlo, where, as he strived to defend the title, he fell to Grigor Dimitrov in the third round in straight sets.
But, Wawrinka, whose modest statistics do not do justice to his extraordinary talent, has shown glimpses of his ability on clay. His epic comeback against Richard Gasquet at the 2013 French Open, when he was down two sets, is an illustration of his prowess on the surface.
Of the 13 times that he and Nadal have faced one another, Wawrinka has got the better just the one time: The final of the Australian Open 2014.
On clay, the duo has clashed on five occasions and it has always been the Spaniard who has taken the cake. In fact, Wawrinka is yet to take his first set against Nadal on clay.