The second Grand Slam of the season will begin on Sunday, but all of the focus in the lead up was surrounding Nadal and whether the fourteen time Champion would be ready to compete.
For some time it has felt like this would be the last time the Spaniard would compete at the French Open and there is a real belief that Rafael Nadal may choose to end his career after the Olympics (which are also played on these courts).
This could not have been a tougher draw for Rafael Nadal, who has had some mixed results on the clay courts, but if he can find a way to get through the First Round, maybe we will have the fairytale ending that Nadal, his family and fans would all be hoping for.
It has been a difficult time for a number of the big names in Men's Tennis and this may mean we are going to have a much more open tournament than expected.
Five players are set as single digits when it comes to the outright market, but there have to be questions about Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who have both been dealing with injuries. Novak Djokovic is the defending Champion, but is clearly not so happy with his form that he has made a rare decision to play in the week prior to the Grand Slam beginning.
Alexander Zverev won in Rome and may take a huge amount of stopping if he was to beat Rafa Nadal in the First Round, while both Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud are very solid clay courters who have won decent titles on the surface.
The Women's event looks a bit more straight-forward- if Iga Swiatek is anywhere near her best, she wins a third straight French Open title and the fourth in five years. She has won the big events in Madrid and Rome and Swiatek will be very tough to beat on these courts, although the World Number 1 does have a couple of potential dangerous floaters that will need to be seen off between now and June 8th.
It is no surprise that Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina come next in the market, but the top Seed is the clear favourite here.
There has been a break in the Tennis Picks and that was largely down to a very disappointing opening three months with some bad fortune attached to some poor selections.
The Australian Open was particularly disappointing so it does mean taking a step back to more two forward is the best approach and one that makes sense in what is a very long season.
After this tournament, the next focus will be on Wimbledon which begins in early July and the hope is to put two very solid Grand Slam returns together.
The First Round at the French Open is split over three days and the uncertainty about when matches are going to be played means some of the threads may be longer than others until me move into the Second Round on Wednesday.
In Melbourne it was a game in which the Picks were trailing right from the off, so there is a hope and expectation to make a stronger start in Paris and lay a solid foundation for a good tournament.
Alexander Zverev - 1.5 sets v Rafael Nadal: Despite the hopes of the broadcasters, Rafael Nadal has gotten his wish of having this First Round match played in the day session at Roland Garros on Monday.
It is the match of the Round, but Nadal is well aware that his best chance of upsetting Alexander Zverev is playing in the hot part of the day when his spins can really be ramped up.
Using the word 'upset' in association with Rafael Nadal at the French Open would usually have been in relation to his opponent having a chance of beating the 14 time Champion in Paris. The Spaniard has only lost three times at this tournament and by only two men, but Nadal looks to have settled on this being his last year on the Tour and he has simply not looked the same level of player as he once was.
He played pretty well in Madrid, but Nadal has suffered early losses in Barcelona and Rome and his numbers have simply backed up the fact that he is not on the level he could once produce.
In saying all that, it is still Rafael Nadal playing on the red dirt at the French Open and ruling him out completely would be a mistake.
However, the draw has been pretty unkind as he prepares to face the Rome Champion Alexander Zverev who is also one of the favourites to life the title here. Prior to the title run in the Italian Capital, Zverev had produced some mixed results on the clay courts, while there will be painful memories of the last time he faced Rafael Nadal on this court when he suffered a serious injury that ruled him out for multiple months.
The German has reached the Semi Final at Roland Garros in each of the last three years and so should be pretty comfortable on the surface too. The serve will be a key weapon for Alexander Zverev and the fact he has beaten Nadal on a clay court before should also help as he looks to get the better of the faded Champion.
Pressure can do funny things and Zverev will know there is a sense of expectation around him for this match, but he has enough experience to handle things. Rafael Nadal is expected to be competitive at moments, but the lack of matches and the quality of Alexander Zverev should see the higher Seed move through in three or four sets.
Cameron Norrie - 1.5 sets v Pavel Kotov: There is not expected to be a lot of British interest at the French Open when we reach the business end of this tournament, but one of the better hopes may be Cameron Norrie.
It has been a tough year for the left-hander who has slipped out of the top 32 in the World Rankings, which means the likelihood of having tougher opening Round draws at the Grand Slam events. His clay court season has been mixed since April, but Norrie has seen the problems thaat come with a dropped World Ranking as he has suffered early losses to the likes of Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas, two very capable clay courters who are amongst the favourites at the second Grand Slam of the season.
On paper this looks a tough, but winnable First Round match for the British player as he prepares to face Pavel Kotov.
The Russian has reached a new career high World Ranking earlier this month, and he has had some decent results on the clay courts in the build to the French Open. The results have been more mixed when only accounting for matches against players Ranked in the top 100, while Kotov has lost four of the five matches played against top 50 Ranked opponents on the clay courts.
It feels like Cameron Norrie will have the edge when it comes down to the serve and that may ultimately give him the opportunity to win this one. He has played well when facing opponents outside of the top 20 of the World Rankings, and Cameron Norrie may just have the majority of the Break Point opportunities through the course of this match.
Cameron Norrie dominated the match when facing Pavel Kotov on the clay courts of Barcelona in April 2023, but the latter should show his improvements made over the last thirteen months. However, Norrie may still be the superior player and can show that by moving through to the Second Round behind a three or four set win.
Marketa Vondrousova - 5.5 games v Rebeka Masarova: She reached the Final at Roland Garros in 2019 and Marketa Vondrousova will be the defending Wimbledon Champion when the tournament gets underway in South West London in July.
However, the World Number 6 can flatter to deceive at times and her record at the French Open since losing to Ashleigh Barty in the 2019 Final has been pretty poor.
The left-hander will get her tournament underway on Monday and this does look a good chance to open with a solid win when facing Rebeka Masarova.
The Spaniard has slipped down the World Rankings and is barely clinging onto a top 100 Ranking these days, while her tournaments in Madrid and Rome ended relatively quickly. In the main, Masarova has decided to rebuild by dropping down a level and her clay court numbers will not really give Marketa Vondrousova too much to worry about.
Much more will depend on what kind of mood Vondrousova is in herself having had a pretty quiet clay court season outside of a good run in Stuttgart. The serve can be a vulnerable weapon at times and that will offer Rebeka Masarova some encouragement, although the Czech player should be good enough on the returning side of her tennis to keep the lower Ranked player under some pressure.
In the main, Marketa Vondrousova has been too good for the players Ranked outside of the top 50 that she has faced on the clay courts. She had won twelve of those matches in a row before losing to Anhelina Kalinina last week in Strasbourg and the feeling is that the former Finalist will begin a new run on Monday with a pretty comfortable win.
The only previous match between these two players was played on a hard court in 2023 and Masarova won just two games on that day. On the clay courts you would have to expect the Spaniard to be more competitive than that, but Marketa Vondrousova should be able to win one set by a wide enough margin to set her on her way to a win and cover.
MY PICKS: Alexander Zverev - 1.5 Sets @ 1.57 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Cameron Norrie - 1.5 Sets @ 1.83 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Marketa Vondrousova - 5.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)
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