Nadal bids for 14th French Open title

Nadal has won 13 French Open singles titles, seven more than any other player in the Open era (Bjorn Borg, six), heading into this year’s edition. Despite being seeded third, it would take a brave person to bet against the defending champion. 

Nadal appeared unfazed on Friday when he spoke about being in the same half as that of World No.1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Swiss legend Roger Federer. “I see it as completely normal. I am not worried about it. I have a lot of work in front of me to play a potential match versus Djokovic in the semi-finals,” said Nadal. 

“Djokovic and Federer would need to play each other and I have my own path. My path right now is Alexei Popyrin in the first round and that is where my mind is. My draw is hard enough,” added Nadal. It is to be remembered that Nadal will open his title defence against World No.62 Popyrin of Australia. 

The 34-year-old Spaniard swept aside Djokovic in straight sets last year for his fourth consecutive French Open crown. With the victory, he clinched his 20th Grand Slam trophy, equalling Federer’s all-time record. 

Nadal maintained his stranglehold on the major, having not dropped a set throughout the fortnight. Only three players have won the French Open without losing a single set: Ilie Nastase in 1973, Bjorn Borg in 1978 and 1980 and Nadal in 2008, 2010, 2017 and 2020. 

Nadal is the only player to have won the same Slam more than 10 times. He has lost just two of the 102 matches played in Paris (excluding walkovers), losing to Robin Soderling in the 2009 fourth round and Djokovic in the 2015 quarter-finals. 

Djokovic clinches Belgrade Open 

Novak Djokovic enjoyed success at his own tennis centre when he won the Belgrade Open with a 6-4, 6-3 scoreline over Slovakian Alex Molcan in Saturday’s final, but his performance left a lot to be desired ahead of the French Open. 

Djokovic received a standing ovation from the home crowd after an erratic display against World No.255 Molcan, who battled through from the qualifying rounds. It was Djokovic’s first triumph since his 18th major victory at the Australian Open in February. 

Since then, he has endured a patchy clay court season, including a last-16 exit at the Monte Carlo Masters. Djokovic also lost to Russian Aslan Karatsev in the Serbia Open semi-finals before being defeated by Rafael Nadal in the Rome Masters final.