Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in "strange" situation heading into French Open, feels Serena Williams' former coach
Former coach of tennis legend Serena Williams, Patrick Mouratoglou, believes Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are in a "strange situation" heading into the 2023 French Open.
Both Djokovic and Nadal are currently out of action. Nadal is recovering from an abdominal injury he suffered at the 2023 Australian Open, while Djokovic is dealing with an elbow injury. They have also both withdrawn from the ongoing Madrid Open, an ATP Masters 1000 event.
Patrick Mouratoglou posted a video on Instagram a few days ago saying that Rafael Nadal will have a difficult time dealing with the new generation of players at Roland-Garros. He also claimed that Nadal and Djokovic's struggle for form will pave the way for new players to lift the clay-court Slam trophy.
In a subsequent video Mouratoglou expanded on his thoughts, stating that both 22-time Grand Slam champions are in a "strange and unique situation" heading into the French Open due to their injuries. He believes that this will open the field even further for young players to compete for the title.
"The fact that Novak, for the moment is not finding his tennis, is a little bit injured, the fact that Rafa is now injured for a long time and was supposed to come back to play these clay court tournaments before Roland-Garros and he is not able to play them, puts the two biggest players and the two best, probably of all time and the ones who are dominating so much on clay, in a very strange and unique situation and it opens the field to many others. So that's why, first it's as open it can be," Mouratoglou said.
Patrick Mouratoglou then named a few players who could do well at the year's second Grand Slam, including Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Andrey Rublev, all of whom won titles on clay the previous week. He also stated that the ongoing Madrid Open and the upcoming Rome Masters will provide more information on this.
"We see that Carlos Alcaraz is playing an incredible tennis at the moment. Holger Rune also played great on clay so as Andrey Rublev. Now, the two Masters 1000 Madrid and Rome on clay will give us so much more information. We will see who are the most dangerous players on the surface leading to this Roland-Garros," he said.
Novak Djokovic will be allowed to play the US Open 2023
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will be able to compete in this year's US Open as the US government has announced plans to end COVID-19 vaccination requirements for international visitors on May 11.
The White House announced on Monday (May 1) that the requirements will be lifted when the coronavirus public health emergency ends next week. That means Djokovic, who was barred from entering the country due to his unvaccinated status, will soon be able to aim for his fourth US Open title at Flushing Meadows.