French Open 2018: Draw preview of the Men's singles contenders at Roland Garros
The Stade Roland Garros in the City of Paris is embellishing itself to enhance the ongoing spring season, with the delightful visuals of the most coveted tennis stars, who will alight on the Terre Battue as the Second Grand Slam of the season is ready to unveil.
The 122nd edition of the French Open that begins from May 27 - 10th June, will have the top gladiators of tennis battling it out, skidding, stretching and roaring with fist pumps on the red dirt, as they eye the prestigious La Coupe des Mousquetaires and the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, the trophies awarded to the Men's singles and Women's singles winners respectively in Paris.
The Draws for the French Open 2018 are out, and always bring in intrigue with them. We take a look at the Men's singles draw ahead of the impending Grand Slam, and break down the potential names that can go the distance till the fag end of the tournament in Paris.
The King of Clay, the Great Spaniard, ten-time French Open Champion, Rafael Nadal is placed in a relatively easier top-half of the Draw.
Grigor Dimitrov, Kei Nishikori, Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem are all packed into the bottom half of the French Open draw.
The 31-year-old Nadal has an exceptional 79-2 win-loss on the Parisian Clay. He has only lost to Robin Soderling (2009) and Novak Djokovic (2015).
The World No. 1 who will be chasing the 11th title at Roland Garros will open against Ukraine's Alexander Dolgopolov. More than often when in fine fettle, there is hardly any name that can thwart Nadal's legacy on clay.
This year is no exception. Looking carefully into the top half of the draw, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Potro are the only two names that have the ability to dash Nadal’s hopes if at all.
But then history testifies that the Croat, World No.4, Cilic has never made it beyond the quarterfinals in Paris.
Cilic who has recently tied the knot is not looking very fit ever since he withdrew from Madrid with an injury, that he suffered in Monaco at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters.
He fell in the first round in Istanbul thereafter and did manage to make the semis in Rome against Alexander Zverev who got the better of the Croat in two extremely close sets.
Let's take a look at the Men's Draw:
First Quarter
Projected Quarter-finals according to seedings: #1 Rafael Nadal vs #6 Kevin Anderson
The defending Champion, Rafael Nadal begins his campaign for a staggering eleventh French Open title, as he faces off with the World No. 54 Alexandr Dolgopolov in the opening round.
The Ukranian who has once basked in a career-high ranking of 13 in 2016, is often deemed as a mercurial player on court, who can challenge the top players when in his groove.
But inflicted with a wrist injury and forced to stay away for most of the season, there is little hope for Dolgopolov who surely would not even in his wildest dream think of dislodging the King of clay from his throne.
To the Ukranian's resume is a quarterfinal finish in Brisbane, a pre-quarterfinal in Sydney, and a third-round finish in Melbourne. In Rome, he fell to the former world No.1 Novak Djokovic in the first round and that clearly signifies the kind of poor form that he is in.
Nadal will face either Joao Sousa or Guido Pella in the second round, while Richard Gasquet should possibly meet him in the third round.
Gasquet had made news by reaching the semifinals at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakesh, and a quarter-final against Zverev in Monte Carlo.
But again, his first round defeats at the Hungarian Open and in Rome are enough to prove that the Frenchman can pose absolutely no threat to Nadal.
It will also remain to see if Richard Gasquet can pass the hurdles of Andreas Seppi and Malek Jaziri, who both are showing some good results in the past months.
But factually, none of these have any magic that can hypnotize Nadal who safely should ease to a fourth-round, meeting with either Jack Sock, or the Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
Shapovalov has registered some brilliant wins on clay this season, by making it to the semi-finals in Madrid, where he lost to Zverev and also the round of 16 in Rome, before succumbing to the Spanish great Nadal in straight sets.
Neither Jack Sock or Shapovalov can manage to pose any threat to the Spaniard who is in supreme form right now going into the French Open 2018.
Going by rankings, Rafael should meet Kevin Anderson in the last eight, if the South African manages to ease past his potential fourth round opponents Deigo Schwartzman, Phillip Kohlschreiber, and Borna Coric.
Nadal leads Kevin Anderson 5-0 in the head to head and should more than surely make it to the Last 4 in Paris.
Semi-finalist: Rafael Nadal