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Roland Garros ATP Main draw preview
First quarter
Undoubtely, this quarter´s highlight on paper would be a
mouthwatering Djokovic vs Dimitrov in R3. Grigor is slowly starting to
show the caliber of player he will be one day, although at the moment,
his “Bambi” fitness should be a major hurdle for pushing Novak more than
a couple of hours here. Anyway, as a tennis fan, I´m looking forward to
this one as I´m sure this match-up will give us great shows from now
and on, specially as Dimitrov develops and improves his all-around game
and physical condition. R4 should be easier, don´t think Kohlschreiber
or The Dog can push too much Nole.
Tipsarevic is the highest seeded player on the bottom half of this
quarter, but his current form might not be enough to live up to his
seeding. Haas (if he´s fit) or even Verdasco (crazy me!) who has been
winning sets off great players lately and looks like he has come into
life again, could surprise here.
Second quarter
Nadal has Brands in R1, who would need faster conditions to make this
slightly competitive. First days will be cloudy and a bit cold, so
can´t give him a chance, really. Then surely Klizan R2 and
Rosol/Fognini, I will be rooting for a rematch against Lukas, not that I
think Rosol can beat him again on a best-of-5 match clay, but it should
be fun, because Rosol has the serve/great backhand/flat shots Nadal
struggles with when his rival is at the top of his game. R4 against
Paire/Nishikori, hopefully it´s Paire, who has played very well lately
(I´m surprised at how calm and focused he has looked in Rome, but I
won´t raise my hopes too much until he backs it up consistently) cause
he has shown this spring his backhand gives Rafa fits to at least make
it competitive with the French crowd behind him
Let´s hope Wawrinka is fit enough to progress a few rounds as he´s
one of the few left in this quarter with a chance to play Nadal tough
(at least for a while) out there
I´m curious to see if Jerzy Janowicz can pick it where he left it at
Rome, he´s fun to watch and has played much better than I though he
would on clay this spring.
Gasquet has a good draw to win a few matches, but even though Piatti
is a good coach, I don´t expect Richard to overcome his classical
underperformances here.
And of course, another highlight of this quarter is the R1 match
between big lefty server Kenny De Scheper and Robin HahaHaase. It´s a
very realistic possibility this match has a few tie breakers and how
funny it would be if KDS could win a couple or even three of them to
progress! If this happens, Hahahaase should be named “Best Entertainer”
on ATP Tour up until he retires.
Third quarter
Berdych vs Monfils in R1 and the winner of this one against Gulbis is
the highlight of these first rounds in ATP main draw. Both matches
should be great to watch.
Robredo has a couple of very winnable matches, then he would meet one
of those three. It would be funny to watch a rematch against Gulbis, he
really made Tommy look silly in US Open 07.
Almagro´s shape is a big question mark, he would be almost a lock to
make the second week with this draw but I wouldn´t be shocked f he bombs
out early because of his hip issues.
Raonic vs Malisse, here we could see a good example of why I do
believe increasing first round money prize is not a good idea. Unfit
players will rarely withdraw from a GS event if they see they can grab
21.000€ just for dressing up.
Llodra has reached Bordeaux CH final last week and that could be a
sign he will be bothered to show up this FO. He meets Darcis in R1 and
he lost in this same round against him two years before, but he looks
better prepared in the lead-up this time. Mika has made good runs here
before and we all know he plays his best as home soil, so it could be
revenge time here.
Ferrer should reach QF from the bottom half of this quarter, although
he´s having some hiccups lately and it won´t be a surprise to me if in
one of those rounds we have another dose of drama in form of a 5-setter
from him.
Fourth quarter
It has a Tsonga vs Federer QF written all over it in my opinion. Even
though Fed is slower these days, none of the guys who he can play in
first 4 rounds (what a great experience for red hot Carreño-Busta to
play against him!) should be able to defeat him, meanwhile I do believe
Tsonga stands a great chance at reaching this quarter final stage, I
have the feeling he will have some mental lapses in several of these
matches, losing sets here and there and maybe having a 5 setter, but I
think he will get through in the end.
Chardy in R3 could be a tough one, but he hasn´t showed too much in
this clay season and Mónaco, who could be a very tricky opponent in R4,
is still in Dusseldorf today, and I normally don´t like a player´s
chances to go deep when playing in the weekend before RG.
So, all in all, top half could get boring outright wise, it´s hard to
see past a Nadal vs Djokovic SF, although strange things happen in
Grand Slams and we could be surprised.
The bottom half looks more open. I won´t dare to name a SF here, but
I´m hoping an outsider can make a great run here, at least till QF.
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