The Big Four At Roland Garros – Rafael Nadal

The draw for the 2015 French Open was made on Friday and it certainly threw up some interesting match-ups and conversation points for the fans.

While Rafael Nadal has fallen outside of the world’s top four for the seeding of this tournament, he is still certainly one of the main candidates to lift the trophy on the 7th of June, given his history in this competition and his overall pedigree on clay.

Therefore, the “Big Four” are still a force to be reckoned with and the main contenders every time a Grand Slam comes around, but how are they shaping up coming into Roland Garros this year?

Here we shall look at nine-time champion Rafael Nadal, who is hoping to claim his 15th Slam in Paris in the next two weeks.

How’s His Form?

He may have a clay-court title coming into the second major of the year, so despite what the majority are saying, it’s not all doom and gloom for Nadal at the moment, but the consensus is that a final victory over Juan Monaco in Argentina is merely papering over some very large cracks.

In the three Masters 1000 tournaments the Spaniard played in over the last month, he only reached one final, where he suffered a timid straight sets loss to Andy Murray in Madrid – a player who had never beaten Nadal on the dirt before and hardly has a great clay-court pedigree himself.

In Monte Carlo, Djokovic got the better of him in the semis, while Stanislas Wawrinka was his conqueror in the last eight of Rome.

The King Of Clay entering three Masters 1000 competitions at this time of year and winning none of them, while losing three times in straight sets is simply unheard of.

To put it simply, Rafael Nadal is arguably in the worst form of his career right now, and his opponents are scenting blood.

Previous Record At Roland Garros

It doesn’t need a tennis expert to explain this one. Rafael Nadal winning the French Open is about as certain as one of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo claiming the Balon d’Or.

His record in the capital of France is quite simply staggering. In the ten appearances he has made at Roland Garros, he has lifted the trophy on nine occasions, with a shock fourth round loss to Robin Soderling in 2009 the only blot on an otherwise remarkable copybook.

In recent years he has started slowly in the early rounds, with the likes of John Isner and Daniel Brands pushing him close in the embryonic stages of the tournament.

However, he has always pulled through and improved as the competition has progressed before inevitably claiming the title he first won in 2005.

The world number seven will be hoping for more of the same over the next fortnight in Paris.

How’s His Draw?

Due to his poor run of form, Nadal has dropped down to seventh in the world rankings, meaning drawing one of the big boys in the last eight was unavoidable. Therefore, he needed a kind draw to give him some sort of confidence ahead of the defence of his title, but fortune has not been on his side.

Nicolas Almagro is hardly an accommodating second round opponent, given the Spaniard is playing on his favourite surface in a no-pressure environment when Nadal is likely to be below his best.

Then the fourth round could pit the 28-year-old up against one of the brightest prospects in the game in the form of Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, before the last eight will surely see the nine-time winner face the one man he simply didn’t want to see in his quarter – Novak Djokovic.

Should he overcome the world number one, Andy Murray will potentially await him in the last four, fresh from his dominant victory in Madrid, before old-time rival Roger Federer is seeded to meet him in the final.

The draw most certainly hasn’t been kind to Nadal – if he is to claim his tenth, and sixth consecutive Roland Garros title, he will have to do it the hard way.

What Are His Chances?

This is a hard question to answer, such are the contradictory factors that are present in the debate.

Of the players in the draw, Roger Federer is the only other man to have won this competition, with Nadal absolutely owning this tournament over the last decade.

Therefore, it is hard to make a case for him not being the favourite, given his previous record and the fact that at the age of 28, it is clear that his body is still in optimum condition, so there is no physical reason for him to falter in Paris.

However, it is also hard to make a case for the Spaniard being the favourite as well. This is largely due to the contrasting form of himself and Djokovic, with the latter looking almost unbeatable at the moment, while the Spaniard continues to toil in what has been a very unhappy year for him so far.

He’s well below his best and has lost some of his fear factor on the surface, but his history at the French Open and his mentality mean he is probably still only behind Djokovic in the list of favourites to take the trophy home in early June.

It could be a case of winner in the quarters takes all.