With 41 Grand Slam titles between them, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will try to disrupt the increasing buzz surrounding teenage wonder Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open starting on Sunday.
Because all three are in the top half of the draw, only one will advance to the Roland Garros final. In the quarter-finals, defending champion Djokovic will meet 13-time winner Nadal.
Alcaraz might be a semifinal opponent. “I always feel like I’m in contention to battle for any Grand Slam trophy,” Djokovic added, referring to his inability to defend his Australian Open title in January after being deported due to a lack of vaccinations.
“Reliving last year’s memories gives me goose bumps and gives me desire to strive to duplicate it this year.”
READ MORE: French Open 2022: Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal could meet in the quarter-finals
On Sunday, Djokovic, who turns 35, won the French Open for the second time in 2021.
He did it the hard way, coming back from two sets down in the last-16 to overcome Lorenzo Musetti, then won a dramatic four-set semi-final against Rafael Nadal before defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.
Djokovic has only competed in five tournaments in 2022, but he arrives in Paris after winning his sixth Italian Open title and becoming only the fifth man to win 1,000 career matches.
His 38th Master’s victory was two more than Nadal, the all-time leader.
Nadal is in a better mood
Djokovic begins his French Open campaign against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, ranked 94th.
Concerns about Nadal’s chronic foot problem, which returned to Rome last week, have been dismissed.
He practiced in front of thousands of fans at Roland Garros on Wednesday with no apparent pain.
Nadal told reporters on Friday, “There is nothing to regain.” “What happened in Rome is something I see all the time in my work.”
“I was in pain for a few days following that, but I’m feeling much better now. That is why I have come.”
Nadal started the year with a 20-match winning streak, winning the Australian Open for the second time to win a record 21st Grand Slam and leapfrog Djokovic and Roger Federer.
Since his title-winning debut in 2005, the 35-year-old has an astounding 105 wins and only three losses at the French Open.
Two of the losses have been caused by Djokovic. A year ago, one of them happened in a tense semi-final, the most recent encounter in the pair’s legendary 58-match rivalry.
“I was just watching Rafa practice, and it’s funny because his forehand is suddenly 20 miles per hour faster. He walks with a lighter gait “Alexander Zverevn, the world number three, remarked on Friday.
“There’s something about this court that makes him play 30% better just by being on it.”
In the first round, Nadal will face Jordan Thompson of Australia.
Alcaraz, who is only 19, has risen to number six after winning four wins in 2022, three of which were on clay.
‘Extraordinary’ Alcaraz
In Madrid, he won his second Masters’s title, sweeping Nadal, Djokovic, and Zverev.
“He’s obviously extraordinary,” Djokovic of Alcaraz, who won the prestigious Miami Masters earlier this year, conceded.
Alcaraz was ranked 97 last year at this time.
Nadal won his first of 13 French Opens when he was two years old in 2005, but he made his mark at the 2021 edition and advanced through qualifying to the third round.
Alcaraz, who has 28 victories and only three losses this season, will begin his campaign against good Argentine loser Juan Ignacio Londero, who is rated 141 but reached the last 16 in 2019.
Daniil Medvedev, the Russian world number two who lost a two-set lead to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final, only returned to action this week in Geneva after undergoing a hernia procedure.
The US Open winner has won 13 times, but he has yet to grasp clay’s demanding demands.
In his first four outings to Roland Garros, he went winless before breaking the drought with a quarter-final appearance in 2021.
Tsitsipas, the Greek world number four, has had a strong clay season.
He successfully defended his Monte Carlo championship before reaching the quarterfinals in Barcelona, the semifinals in Madrid, and the final in Rome.
