Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka is reigning champion at the French Open, preventing World No. 1 Novak Djokovic from adding the Coupe de Mousquetaires to his trophy cabinet. Djokovic, although immensely successful on clay, has notoriously faltered at Roland Garros, repeatedly.
The Serb has made the finals on three occasions, losing on two of those occasions to King of Clay Rafael Nadal.
Nadal, considered perhaps the greatest clay court player in the history of the game, is himself looking for a tenth French Open title, completing his La Decima of titles here. Given his resurgence in form of late, it would not be remiss to believe that Nadal, who was plagued by injury in 2015, could take yet another title here.
We look at 5 outside challengers to the title this year:
Dominic Thiem
The Austrian youngster has not only been in good form, but doing well across surfaces. Dominic Thiem has this year already challenged Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and ousted Roger Federer from a tournament – only a sign of bigger things to him.
Thiem’s biggest problem this year has been his difficulty with break point conversions. At his first-round match against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the clay-court Miami Masters, it was definitely the Serb who had the advantage over his 22nd – ranked, much younger rival.
But the Austrian was in fine form as he challenged his top-ranked rival on the only surface he does not possess a Grand Slam – clay.
Thiem repeatedly broke Djokovic, with a total of 14 break points over the course of the match – and on repeated occasions had the opportunity to control the outcome.
Unfortunately, it was that inability that cost him a massive upset, one that could potentially have been the upset of the tournament.
The young Austrian would have walked away from the tournament a happy man regardless, however, given he was able to seriously tax the most dominant tennis player of the last five years, and that player also left the match impressed by Thiem’s skills.
Following his win, Djokovic revealed to the ATP he had been impressed with Thiem’s skill. “"Dominic is one of the leaders of this generation, no question doubt about it," Djokovic said. "He's already established himself as a Top 20 player the last couple years. He's getting stronger and more confident."
Thiem finished in the Round of 64 at the 2015 French Open, and although he did not progress beyond that round, seriously troubled a significantly more experienced Pablo Cuevas, taking the match to four close sets.
Nick Kyrgios
Infamous for his off-colour remarks, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios is, regardless, one of the brightest young prospects in men’s tennis today. The ranked youngster showed promise early on in his career, and as one of his country’s most talented representatives of the game, has also had success in team tennis.
He has beat a number of the best top-10 players in his career already, and into the second Grand Slam of the year, Nick Kyrgios is looking to be in fine form.
He played – and defeated – arch-rival Stan Wawrinka this year on clay, a notable feat especially given the Swiss is very comfortable with the surface and, in fact, is the reigning French Open champion, having defeated Novak Djokovic and preventing the Serb from completing a career slam.
Kyrgios has been steadily rising in the rankings since his debut, and is now a top -20 player. At 19th in the ATP World Tour standings, Kyrgios may have taken a number of good victories, but one of his most signicaint performances was at the Rome Masters earlier this month.
The Australian managed to scalp a set off King of Clay Rafael Nadal, who is this year looking for a record 10th title at Roland Garros, and although he lost in three sets, has shown himself to be a worthy challenger going into the Grand Slam.
Kyrgios’ best French Open finish has been at the Round of 32, with that 2015 showdown ending in a straight sets loss to World No. 3 Andy Murray.
Kei Nishikori
He has yet to win a Grand Slam title, but Japanese ace Kei Nishikori’s strong double-handed backhand and topspin-heavy serve has bamboozled many an opponent, among them none other than World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
The Serb missed out on the Italian Open title – the last event before the clay-court Grand Slam with a straight sets loss in the final to Andy Murray, and at one point it seemed as though he would not even progress past the semi-finals of the event.
6th-ranked Nishikori forced a deciding set against Djokovic with some impressively long rallying against the Serb, and displayed a tenacity not many players have in recent years. With the final set going to a tiebreak, Nishikori fought until the final point – with Djokovic winning the tiebreak by the most narrow margin – 7-6.
If the 26-year-old can carry both skill and mental resolve into the French Open, he could be a definite contender for the title.
Nishikori finished in the quarter-finals of the tournament last year, eventually losing to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a five-setter; that is his career-best performance at the French Open, a statistic he will look to better this year and given his form, could be primed to do.
Gael Monfils
Monfils is a very skilled player, but perhaps lacks the tactician’s ability that has seen many of his colleagues win Grand Slam titles.
The tall Frenchman has done fairly well this clay court season, meeting Rafael Nadal at the finals of the Monte Carlo Masters and bageling him before eventually losing.
Although he has not been able to replicate that performance across tournaments, the Frenchman is doubtless skilled on clay, and has historically done well at the French Open.
He has progressed as far as the semi-finals on the clay courts of Roland Garros, losing to then World No. 1 Roger Federer at the top of his form – and managing to scalp a set off him.
That game was also played fairly closely, and the Swiss, who has been virtually unbeatable for most players throughout his long, illustrious career, has been Monfils’ nemesis at the Slam.
The Swiss and the Frenchman have faced each other on three occasions in the past at the French Open, with Federer coming out on top each time.
Monfils has managed to seriously trouble Andy Murray at the tournament, a notable feat given the Scot, currently the third-ranked player in the world and even in 2014, at the time of their last French Open showdown, was a top-10 player – and has been quite successful on clay.
He took Murray to 5 sets – entirely replicating the Scot’s scoreline of the first two sets before eventually being bageled in the final set.
Given his history with the court and the fact that he will have home support, Monfils, who is currently ranked 14th on the ATP rankings, will need consistency and strategic, tactical play to be a title contender for a Slam for which he possesses the skills.
David Goffin
Belgian ace David Goffin, currently at 13th on the ATP rankings, saw a quarter-final exit at the recently concluded Italian Open, facing eventual tournament champion Andy Murray.
The 25-year-old played a very close second set against the Scot, who has in recent years found success on clay. Goffin crashed out early at the Mutua Madrid Open, with a Round of 64 loss against France’s Lucas Pouille, although that had been a close contest, with two of the three sets going to tiebreak.
Although Goffin has not managed to progress very far in any clay court tournament this year, every one of his finishes at those tournaments has seen his respective opponents edge him out by narrow margins.
Goffin took his first set against eventual champion Novak Djokovic to a tiebreak at the Miami Masters – a hard court tournament – earlier this year, proving he has the ability to tax even the highest-ranked of players.
Most notably, although Goffin has struggled against lower-ranked players, he has more than held his own against two of the Big Four at the French Open.
At the 2013 French Open, Goffin took on World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the Round of 128 – perhaps an unfair draw for the significantly less-experienced player, and managed to trouble the Serb. Despite an eventual straight sets loss, Goffin would take the opening set to a tiebreak, and the final set to a 5-7 loss, finishing closely against a player who would largely have been expected to rout him completely.
The previous year, Goffin played Roger Federer at the Round of 16 at Roland Garros, and managed to take a set off the Swiss, who won the tournament in 2009.
If he can find the ability to take him over the edge with close finishes, Goffin could well progress through this year’s French Open.
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