For a player so blissfully in his element on this surface, there has been a certain joylessness about Rafael Nadal during his clay campaign this year.
Not from lack of success - as in the previous three years, he has dominated the European spring circuit, defending his titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and winning Hamburg for the first time. Even his lone loss in Rome was precipitated by a badly blistered foot.
And yet, when he raised the trophy in Hamburg, marking 108 wins in his past 110 clay matches, his face held nothing except a tremendous weariness.
Perhaps that’s not a complete surprise. Nadal has had to fight hard on court, playing four straight weeks and putting in almost six hours during the last two days of Hamburg alone. “It’s not only the body. Mentally it is tough, too,” he said after the tournament.
He has also been fighting hard off the court. Nadal has repeatedly hammered ATP chief Etienne de Villiers over the decision to shorten the clay season this year, which left him one less week in which to play the same number of events. Together with his fellow Spanish colleagues, he is also embroiled in an increasingly ugly dispute with national federation president Pedro Munoz over the site selection for September’s Davis Cup semifinal against the United States.
Looking ahead to the Paris fortnight that will coincide with his 22nd birthday, Nadal knows that even with a victory he can do no more than fulfill the expectations set for him. “Of course I'll feel nervous,” he said. “I feel nerves with every game but especially in a match at Roland Garros.”
Heavy lies the head that wears the crown.
THE BIG THREE
Hopefully a couple of days’ rest and a quick trip home to Mallorca will rejuvenate Nadal, because there is also much he should relish about this period. There is the prospect of winning a fourth straight title at Roland Garros and establishing himself practically alongside Bjorn Borg among the clay greats. There’s also the fuel of the current three-way race at the top of the men’s game, with Nadal hustling to stay ahead of the rising Novak Djokovic even as he continues his perennial pursuit of Roger Federer’s No. 1 ranking.
Finally, he is the firm favorite, and for a reason. Nadal has never been beaten on Parisian clay; the surface magnifies the impact of his speed and topspin and the tournament's best-of-five format allows the full brunt of his relentless defence to be wreaked on opponents. It becomes nearly impossible to hit through him the way other players have managed to do on faster hardcourts.
Federer will testify to this. For almost three years, the world’s best player has been the world’s second-best player on clay. His only barrier has been Nadal, who has won seven of their eight encounters on the dirt and all three at Roland Garros. “It is difficult to suppress him with winners,” said the Swiss. “That’s why he is so successful on that surface.”
It’s not like Federer hasn’t had his chances against Nadal during the past few weeks, going up 4-0 in the first set at Monte Carlo and holding a 5-1 and 5-2 leads in the first and second sets at Hamburg, respectively. ”The last two matches were some of the most strange matches between Roger and me,” observed Nadal. “But you know, when you had 16 matches against each other, some have to be strange.”
The reigning king of men's tennis has betrayed self-doubt against Nadal before (in the finals of Rome and Roland Garros in 2006, for example) but must be growing increasingly uneasy about his inability to find the right combination against his rival on clay.
At 26, Federer gives himself a few more years to win the only major still eluding him, but there’s little doubt that the task grows more difficult each year. He enlisted the help of veteran coach and clay expert Jose Higueras last month, and there will be much interest in seeing whether the partnership will make any tangible difference in Paris and beyond.
A bout of mononucleosis and a patchy start triggered speculation about a steep decline at the beginning of the year, though he has managed to subsequently dampen such talk. While some of his old aura has definitely faded, he insists his game has not. ”The more you lose, the more they start to believe they can beat me. But believing is not enough, you still have to beat me,” he said.
The one member of the Big Three who does seem to have been enjoying himself this spring is Novak Djokovic - and why not? He capitalized on his good fortune in Rome, winning the title in a week where two of his opponents retired and both Federer and Nadal lost early. But he also backed it up the following week in Hamburg by pushing Nadal to the limit in a three-hour thriller in the semifinals.
Djokovic planned to swing into Paris midweek. On Tuesday, he made a quick appearance in Europe's annual Eurovision song contest, being hosted by Serbia this year. On Wednesday, he celebrates his 21st birthday. There is no weariness on his face, or in his game.
Though No. 3 in the 52-week rankings, Djokovic leads the year-to-date Race and says his goal is to become No. 1 by the end of the year. He can move up to No. 2 by equalling Nadal’s result at the French Open, but hints his private ambitions are greater than that.
”Sure, Rafa is the number one favourite. Winning three in a row the French Open is a real achievement for such a young guy,” Djokovic told Reuters. “But this year is a quite different situation and it's going to be interesting to see who is going to win it.”
With his naked ambition and outgoing personality, the Serb is proving to be a polarizing figure. Some find him appealing, others off-putting - but all acknowledge he’s added some spice to the amicable atmosphere Federer and Nadal had established at the top of the game.
ANYONE ELSE? ANYONE?
Though the Grand Slam conversation has expanded from two to three contenders, not many other voices are being heard. The next three highest-ranked participants are all capable of pulling a major upset but not expected to make a serious run at the title.
Nikolay Davydenko is the fourth-ranked player in the world but has been largely invisible since winning Miami in March. It would be no surprise to see the extremely solid Russian live up to his seeding and reach the semifinal, but it would be a surprise to see him summon the emotional inspiration needed to upset Federer or Nadal once there.
Fifth-ranked David Ferrer is another solid performer who is at his best on clay, but may not have the reserves to make a deep run after playing six straight weeks coming into the French Open (seven, counting Davis Cup).
David Nalbandian had also originally opted for some strange pre-tournament preparation, committing to an exhibition against Pete Sampras just a few days before Paris. The match was canceled when an injured Sampras withdrew. Nalbandian has not lived up to the expectations created by his two Masters series title wins towards the end of last year, but remains one of the best players on tour to never have won a Grand Slam.
Three unpredictable younger players also bear watching. Andy Murray trained in Spain as a junior and has an eclectic game that should allow him to succeed to clay, but he has won just nine of his 25 ATP matches on the dirt. He’s looking to turn things around with a combination of positive thinking and advice from two-time French Open finalist Alex Corretja. “The clay at Roland Garros is a little bit quicker than on other courts and that should help me,” said Murray. “Getting through to the second week would be a great result.”
The hopes of the home nation will be focused largely on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet. True to their career histories, Tsonga has been struggling physically and Gasquet mentally – but there will be more optimism around Tsonga this fortnight. Though Tsonga’s big-hitting game will be somewhat blunted on the clay, he will be helped by the support of the French crowds and is fresh and eager. Gasquet, meanwhile, is so out of sorts that even his participation was in doubt, and he has made a surprise change in coaches just a few days before the start of what is the biggest tournament of his year. "He went through a big crisis of confidence," said new coach Guillame Peyre, who has worked with Marcos Baghdatis in the past. "He knows he has had a difficult start to the year. I found him very motivated, he really wants to get back to work." But, estimates Peyre, Gasquet is about a month away from returning to a good level.
Also in the local mix is the quietly surging Paul-Henri Mathieu, a talented player capable of giving anyone trouble until a match reaches the later stages of the fifth set.
And what of the American contingent? Andy Roddick has been sidelined with a shoulder injury that interrupted his encouraging run to the semifinals of Rome, leaving James Blake as the primary representative. Robby Ginepri scored a notable win over Mario Ancic in Portschach. Sam Querrey has been the surprise of this group – though his game is theoretically ill-suited to the surface, he reached the quarterfinals of Monte Carlo and won a match in his second clay event at Portschach. Coming into the season, his expectations for the French were modest. “I would be pretty happy if I won a match. Ecstatic if I won two,” he said. That probably sums it up for most of his compatriots as well.
Though not quite at Nadal’s level, the Spaniards have a number of darkhorses like Nicolas Almagro, Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero. Other indefatigable claycourters will also dot the draw, looking to make a run to the second week.
Few, however, will habour much hope of making the final weekend. The battle for supremacy in men’s tennis is currently being waged on three fronts alone.