Preview: Roland Garros

City: Roland Garros, France
Surface: Outdoor Clay
Championship Points: 2000
2008 Singles Champion: Rafael Nadal
2008 Doubles Champions: Luis Horna and Pablo Cuevas


The French Open is finally here and caps off the European clay-court season. Rafael Nadal will try to go for a record-breaking, fifth-consecutive title. He should be able to do it if he is healthy over the next two weeks.

The only two players who can stop him are Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer -- I would pick Djokovic over the two if I was forced to. It would be great to see Nadal and Djokovic battling it out in the final to change things up.

Nadal’s quarter contains Fernando Verdasco and Stanislas Wawrinka. Verdasco and Wawrinka will have to duke it out in the round of 16 to possibly play Nadal in the quarterfinals. Nadal should still be able to take either one of them.

The Spaniard then could have to meet Andy Murray in the semifinals. Of the top four, Murray is the player most likely to be upset, as clay is his weakest surface. To play Nadal, he will have to get past Fernando Gonzalez, his biggest obstacle, in the quarterfinals. The Chilean has a good chance of upsetting the Scot on clay this year.

Of course Federer has the privilege of having an easy quarter, as he usually does in the grand slams. Federer could meet Tomas Berdych in the round of 16. The Czech gave Federer trouble at the Australian Open and should have won the match but could not seal the deal. Federer’s other challenge could be Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. Roddick still his Rogeritus, so the Swiss maestro should have an easy time advancing into the semifinals, where he could meet Djokovic. This may be the battle he will lose this year if I may be so bold.

The Serb needs to be in shape and make sure that he does not stay on the court too long over the next two weeks. Djokovic’s part of the draw is trickier. He could meet Juan Martin del Potro in the quarterfinals. The young Argentine has stepped his game up lately, so he might give the Serb some trouble. Even if del Potro loses, he might keep Djokovic on the court for a while and wear him down before a possible semifinal appearance with Federer – like Djokovic and Nadal in Madrid last week. Hopefully, the Serb has it together enough to make it to his maiden French Open final.

Tournament Draw
Singles / Doubles

Sunday's Order of Play

Tournament Malfeasance
Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) vs. Michael Llodra (FRA)
Viktor Troicki (SRB) vs. Lukasz Kubot (POL)
Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs. Igor Andreev (RUS)
Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) vs. Arnaud Clement (FRA)
Julien Benneteau (FRA) vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero
Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) vs. Novak Djokovic (SRB)

And The Qualifiers Are . . .
Kevin Anderson (RSA), Sebastien De Chaunac (FRA), Benoit Paire (FRA), Lamine Oahab (ALG), Fabio Fognini (ITA), Daniel Brands (GER), Marcos Daniel (BRA), Lukas Rosol (CZE), Paolo Lorenzi (ITA), Ilia Bozoljac (SRB), Santiago Giraldo (COL), Victor Crivoi (ROU), Flavio Cipolla (ITA), Leonardo Mayer (ARG), Jean-Rene Lisnard (MON)

(Image: FFT)