Dominant athletes are elemental, and their opponents swim against a riptide.
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Kristina Mladenovic’s Roland Garros legend is growing with each passing year as the Frenchwoman has notched some of the grandest, most emotional wins of her career on the terre battue.
Seven years after his triumph, the 17-time Grand Slam champ has been reduced to a mere spectator as injuries continue to pile in.
That is why Nadal’s play on clay last season was startling.
OLYMPIC PUSH: A Grand Slam tournament is a Grand Slam tournament, so there is plenty at stake as always over the next 15 days, but there is an added incentive for some players: the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Nadal had beaten the Serbian in all six of their previous matchups at the French Open, dropping only four total sets along the way.
But it was not to be and Djokovic was left in tears. For the first time since 2005, he sunk to tenth in the rankings.
But this year, Nadal has battled back.
“No”, replied a chuckling Wawrinka, who had waited for two and a half hours before the weather condition turned better to play. If I don’t win [Roland Garros] I’ll still be one off. It took me forever to get to 18. During his rehab, he kept in shape by hitting forehands and backhands from a wheelchair. “He’s playing more relaxed and more energetic”.
Brad Gilbert rates Andy Murray as a likelier victor of the French Open than nine-time champion Rafael Nadal.
Looking to achieve a feat that was last achieved by Rod Laver in 1969, Djokovic began his pursuit of the only major title missing from his collection with a no-nonsense 6-4 6-1 6-1 win over Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun in the first round on Tuesday. “That’s the main source of drive and motivation”, he said after beginning his 46th consecutive appearance at a grand slam event.
Germany’s Benjamin Becker was one of the few to complete his opening match on Sunday but probably wishes the rain had hung around longer.
“It was an unbelievable week for me and this was something I was not even expecting”, Cilic said.
“Rafa had a fall off and now he’s coming back”. I’ll see what I can do during the first week, but I’ll try. Last week Britain’s Murray ended a 1-12 streak against Djokovic by beating him convincingly in Rome. There is little doubt that all the focus is on these two men.
“It was a pressure-packed year that just never let up”, Navratilova said in a recent interview. “And it’s still not the case, so it’s good”. “But in terms of the matchup, Rafa versus Novak, it’s just very problematic for him”. “She showed during that week that she was able to compete and win again at the highest level”. The tour is getting better, and anything short of perfection is not good enough anymore. I can go deep. Also, Serena Williams will face 77th-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova as she starts the defence of her title. Rosol ripped a massive serve wide denying a fourth break point. “I need to just keep going”.
Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, was also eliminated, losing to Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-4. “It doesn’t make a big difference on what you want to do”. “We don’t think about it until the press brings it up”. The action is heating up and the fans will without a doubt be served up history one way or the other and it may happen before you realise it. The question is, can Nadal break through at the French?
Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka gestures during a training session at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Sunday, May 22, 2016. In 2012 and 2014 he ran into Nadal, nearly impossible to beat on the Paris clay, in the final. A meeting with sixth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could come in the quarterfinals in front of his home crowd.
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Murray practices quite often with both Novak Djokovic and Nadal, despite them being two of his biggest rivals. But that victory came early in Azarenka’s Roland Garros career, before she had fully acclimated herself to the red clay. Overcoming the elements never is.
