French Open 2021 men's singles preview: 'Big 3' in one half, next gen in the other

Football has a popular, and slightly cliched, saying: it was a game of two halves. That would be an accurate way to assess the men’s singles draw at the French Open that gets underway on Sunday. One half features: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer — owners of 58 Grand Slam titles between them. The ‘Big 3’ of men’s tennis. Together in the same half of a major draw for the very first time. The trio has won 15 of the last 16 Grand Slams with the only ‘spanner’ being Dominic Thiem — placed in the lower half. The top half also features 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic. In all, the top half of the draw has 59 Slam titles and the bottom half has 1 and plenty of opportunities. Nadal, a 13-time French Open champion, prevailed in less-than-familiar conditions to win the title last year. It brought him equal with Roger Federer on 20 Grand Slam titles and a win here would give him the lead for the first time. But the question, as always when going into Roland Garros, is: Who can stop Nadal? And, how do you even stop Nadal? The Spaniard comes into it on a 28-match win streak in Paris and a 100-2 overall record. Nadal’s run in the warmup events saw him lose to Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev in the quarters in Monte Carlo and Madrid respectively while winning the titles in Barcelona and Rome. That loss to Zverev meant Nadal dropped in the rankings, with Daniil Medvedev moving up, which sees him taking the third seed at French Open. If there was a moment to reflect and assign seeds based on performance on the surface, this was it. Medvedev has played four matches at Roland Garros grounds and lost all four with just one win in nine recent matches on clay. That essentially means Nadal could face Djokovic in the semi-finals with the possibility of facing Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Sonego, Rublev and Diego Schwartzman before it. Ahead of the draw, Goran Ivanisevic, part of the Djokovic camp, had wished for the Serbian and Nadal to be in the same half. “In my opinion, Nadal is number one favourite to win the French Open and there’s only one person who can beat him to that number 14 title — and that’s Novak,” Ivanisevic told L’Equipe. [caption id=“attachment_9655581” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Novak Djokovic in action in Serbia. AP[/caption] “It might be madness, but I would like them to be in the same part of the table. Novak would perform better against him in the half. And Rafa would perform better in the final. It’s psychological,” he added. “But he has to be 100%. We saw last year he did not show up for the final. He showed up too late. You cannot give Nadal too much space, otherwise, he eats you.” The final that Ivanisevic refers to saw Nadal win 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 in a contest that was heavily lopsided on the face of it but saw plenty of games going down to the wire. Either way, for Novak, the French Open is an opportunity to not just get revenge, but also go close on Nadal and Federer in the overall Slams tally. Having already taken over as the World No 1 with most weeks at the top, this is the next challenge for the Serb. In Melbourne, he collected his 18th major title and has not shied away from acknowledging that the quest motivates him. Placed in the first quarter of the top half, before the much discussed potential semi-final with Nadal, Djokovic has to navigate around a relatively simple draw. Ugo Humbert, Alex De Minaur, David Goffin, Matteo Berrettini, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Taylor Fritz are the other seeds in this side of the draw alongside Federer. The Swiss has played just one match on clay — losing to Pablo Andujar in Geneva — and a couple of wins would be a decent return for him with the focus squarely on grass. He remains realistic of his chances telling the ATP website, “I’m just realistic that I know I will not win the French and whoever thought I would or could win it is wrong,” Federer said. “Of course crazier things might have happened, but I’m not so sure in the past 50 years at the French Open somebody just rocked up at 40 years old being out for a year and a half and [went] on to just win.” The lower half of the draw is one of an opportunity. It is an opportunity for multiple players who haven’t been able to go deep at majors by virtue of running into one of the Big 3. Thiem, the only Slam champion in this half, looks the least likeliest to go deep this time. Ever since winning the US Open last year, the Austrian has suffered a loss of momentum with injuries playing a role. He lost in the quarters of the French Open, fourth round at Australian Open, and struggled in the clay-court tune-ups. In contrast, Zverev, who collapsed in the US Open final, has looked the better. Despite his off-court issues, the German hasn’t suffered after losing that final in New York. He reached the fourth round at the French Open, the final at Paris Masters, the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and Rome while winning in Madrid. Thiem and Zverev are on collision course to meet in the semi-finals but the luck of the draw preceding it favours Alexander. He faces qualifier Oscar Otte in the first round and potentially Dan Evans in the third. Thiem, meanwhile, starts against Andujar, could play Fabio Fognini in the third round and Casper Ruud in the fourth. Ruud is on the upward curve having won the title in Geneva and making the semi-finals of Monte Carlo. [caption id=“attachment_9643591” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Stefanos Tsitsipas won the French Open tuneup tournament in Monte Carlo. AP[/caption] After Nadal, if someone has been in a stupendous form on clay, it is Stefanos Tsitsipas who is in the fourth quarter. Away from Djokovic, Nadal, Thiem and Zverev, Tstisipas finds himself alongside Medvedev who isn’t big on clay. In Rome, Medvedev muttered, “It’s the worst surface in the world for me. But if you like to be in the dirt like a dog, I don’t judge," before asking the tournament supervisor to default him instead. The Russian could well go five played, five lost in Paris with a tricky opponent in Alexander Bublik in the first round. Tsitsipas won the title in Monte Carlo, pushed Nadal all the way in the final in Barcelona, and Djokovic in Rome. With most wins on ATP Tour this season, he would be hoping to at least make the final this time around having been stopped in the semi-finals by Djokovic last year in a five-setter. “Clay is a surface that I love to play and explore my game. The French Open is a tournament that formed good memories last year…Coming back is going to make me feel the nostalgia,” he had said in Monte Carlo.