He is seeded to face Tomas Berdych in the last-eight before a potential semi-final blockbuster against nine-time champion Rafael Nadal in what would be the 50th meeting between them.
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The French Open, often referred to as Roland Garros is a major tennis tournament, is the premier clay court tennis championship event in the world and the second of four annual Grand Slam tournaments, the other three being the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
But after winning three of four majors last year and falling two matches shy of capturing the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Graf in 1988, the 34-year-old American has played sporadically and, at times, haltingly.
In his past two tournaments, Nadal lost in the Madrid semifinals to Andy Murray, and the Rome quarterfinals to Djokovic.
– At 37 years old, 129-ranked Stepanek is the oldest player in the tournament having come through qualifying.
What Murray could have done without on the eve of the tournament were negative headlines provoked by comments from his former coach Amelie Mauresmo.
He has won 11 majors and could yet equal Nadal’s haul of 14 by the end of the year. His 6-3, 6-3 win over Djokovic in the final of the Foro Italico came on his 29th birthday.
“For me, I think grass is my best surface. I need to be ready to suffer a little bit during the match, because I know it’s going to be hard to have breaks”.
She remains one Slam off at the start of Roland Garros, though that means – once again – seven wins to achieve history. But especially for me, because it’s the most important place in my career without a doubt. “Certainly, with what has happened several months ago in Paris and where the world is at this moment, of course we need to tighten up the security”, Djokovic said. Murray’s mother, Judy, also had some input.
“You have to be there when the sun shines and you have to be there when there’s a storm, and that was a big storm”, Becker told Sport360 of that French Open final defeat.
“I believe”, Nadal said, “that people who organize the event and the whole city is 100 per cent focused on making the event safe for everybody, not only for the players”. He seemed to brighten a little later in his press conference when someone asked him how it felt to be back in “your stadium”.
Just as alarmingly, Nadal no longer threw off that trademark feeling that he was going to hang on in a match until he won it, no matter how large a deficit he was facing, no matter how long he had to stay on the court.
Naomi Broady, who is in the main draw of a Grand Slam by dint of her world ranking for the first time, meets Coco Vandeweghe, the world No 40.
The likelihood of that looks more favorable than in previous years given the absence of 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, who pulled out on Thursday after failing to shake off a back problem, Nadal’s struggles to get back to his best level on clay, and the inconsistent form of defending champion Stan Wawrinka.
“He’s clearly number one, but he’s in his late 20s. I think there’s got to be that sense of urgency that he needs to get over the line”.
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Fulfilled and happy away from the courts and playing the tennis of his life on them, Murray will have no complaints at all if everything goes according to plan in the next two weeks – even if he does have to play that man Djokovic again in the final.
