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The French Open is upon us, so it’s time for some bold predictions. Majors like the French Open generally don't go as expected, making it ideal for bold predictions like this one.
Whether it's Carlos Alcaraz possibly facing and this time beating Novak Djokovic, or Coco Gauff elevating herself above Iga Swiatek. Find all about that and more in the text below as we present our five bold predictions for the upcoming French Open.
1. Carlos Alcaraz might get his revenge
Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic are not on the same side of the draw, so they can essentially only meet in the final. But should they meet in the final, then the Spaniard is very likely to get his revenge.
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Djokovic has found a little bit of form lately in Geneva, but the Serbian has still looked quite a bit below his usual level, which is not going to be good enough. Alcaraz showed in Rome that when it matters, he still manages to find his best tennis. If he gets a chance to face Djokovic once more in Paris, he certainly won’t make the same mistakes he did in the Olympic final.
That was a match Alcaraz could have won, but he didn’t take his chances when he had them. As the match progressed, Djokovic became more and more calm while Alcaraz started to become more and more nervous, and he never got the chance again.
2. Novak Djokovic won’t make the Final
Pivoting on the previous prediction, we’re going to predict that Novak Djokovic doesn’t even make it to the final. It’s not just about his draw, which is fairly good. He isn’t facing anybody who should beat him early on, but his form remains a huge question mark. His performance in Geneva has shown that he’s getting close to what he can deliver at his best, but it’s still not a level that’s going to convince anyone to back him to go to the final.
To get to the final, Djokovic would have to go through some really good players, including Jannik Sinner, and that simply doesn’t look possible. His level might be good enough in a vacuum, but when you consider that the event is a best-of-five format, it’s a different challenge.
On top of that, Djokovic has generally struggled with that format lately, not being able to handle it well. It just doesn’t seem likely that he can beat a player like Sinner in a best-of-five match, meaning the final remains unrealistic.
3. Coco Gauff to rise above Iga Swiatek
Coco Gauff has, for a while, played on a level that is generally higher than that of Iga Swiatek. In that sense, this isn’t a massively huge or bold prediction because, as we noted, she’s been playing on a better level.
There’s a certain gravity to doing it at the French Open, though. Swiatek has been the dominant force at that event for a while now and won the tournament last year as well. It’s her house, but as the Olympics proved last year, she can be beaten on that court as well. She’s generally been pretty poor lately, and Gauff bested her in the Madrid event—and it wasn’t even close.
While Paris is certainly more similar to the style Swiatek likes to play than Madrid, she’s unlikely to turn it around that quickly. So Gauff is very likely to overtake Swiatek at the event, and should they play, she’s likely to beat her as well.
4. Aryna Sabalenka won’t win the French Open
Another rather bold prediction is that Aryna Sabalenka won’t win the French Open, which is somewhat expected because she is the top seed after all. There aren’t many players competing on a level right now that would be considered a major-winning level.
Sabalenka is one of those players, but her relationship with clay remains somewhat controversial. She’s improved dramatically on the surface compared to previous years, but she’s still not a player you would consider natural on the clay. She nearly made the Paris final a couple of years ago, but overall, she remains a player who tends to struggle on this surface much more than any other.
With so many great players coming through the ranks, Sabalenka is very likely to run into some trouble, and she has already lost a few finals this year, so she could easily lose one more.
5. Top seeds won’t win
Another prediction is that neither top seed in either draw will win the event. There are a few reasons for that, mostly because there is a huge amount of parity right now in tennis.
It’s always been there on the women’s side of the sport and is there right now as well. On the men’s side, it’s slowly getting there as well, so it’s not impossible to see that we have the top seeds not winning the event.
We might not even get a repeat champion from a year ago because of that parity on both sides. Tennis is odd like that sometimes, and we might simply not get the outcome everyone is expecting.
