The Big Four At Roland Garros – Roger Federer

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 apply our focus towards Roger Federer as he tries to capture his second French Open and 18th Grand Slam.

How’s His Form?

In a word – patchy. It is no secret that clay is not exactly a surface that Federer thrives on, despite boasting a record that most amateur players starting out in the game would only dream of.

He does have a title to his name on the dirt this season, as he claimed the inaugural Istanbul title with a tight victory over Pablo Cuevas in the final in Turkey.

However, that glosses over some distinctly sub-par performances, as he struggled his way through that tournament, while his record in the Masters 1000 competitions during the clay-court swing isn’t too great.

Monte Carlo ended almost as soon as it had begun with an early loss to Gael Monfils, while he didn’t even get his eye in during Madrid, bowing out to Nick Kyrgios in the second round, with the youngster getting the better of him in a dramatic final set tie-breaker.

Rome saw the Swiss maestro rediscover some semblance of form ahead of Roland Garros, but a meek loss in the final at the hands of the admittedly superb Novak Djokovic doesn’t bode well for the world number two ahead of the next two weeks in Paris.

Previous Record At Roland Garros

Champion in 2009, runner-up on four occasions and a two time semi-finalist is a record that would make for remarkably impressive reading for most players on tour. However, Roger Federer is not most players.

When you consider he has won four Australian Opens, seven Wimbledon titles and five US Open crowns, his statistics in the French capital are somewhat underwhelming.

There are reasons for this, however. Federer has come face to face with the undoubted King of Clay in the form of Rafael Nadal on five separate occasions at Roland Garros, with four of those meetings coming in the final – unsurprisingly, Nadal won every single one of them.

You get the sense that, but for the freak of nature that is Rafael Nadal on a clay court, Federer would have at least 20 Grand Slams to his name right now, as he was easily the second-best clay court player in the world between 2005 and 2009.

The 17-time major winner’s recent record at the French Open is not brilliant, however, with just one semi-final appearance in the last three years. If he is to double his tally of Roland Garros titles in June, he will have to play significantly better tennis than he has on his last three visits to Paris.

How’s His Draw?

He won’t admit it publicly, but Federer will be absolutely delighted with the draw he has received for this year’s tournament.

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are all in the same side of the draw, while the highest seed in Federer’s section is Tomas Berdych, who was the semi-final opponent that all the big guns wanted.

A familiar foe awaits the Swiss in the first round and the world number two will be very cautious on the opening day of the tournament as Alejandro Falla waits on the other side of the net.

Falla was the man who was desperately close to a shock first round victory over Federer in the first round of Wimbledon in 2010, with many people forgetting that he also served for the first set against Federer at Roland Garros just weeks earlier as well.

So, while the first round could throw up some problems due to Falla’s style of play and the fear factor he seems to exude when facing Federer, the 2009 champ should stroll through to the last eight if he were to get the better of the Colombian.

If we are going by seedings, his next three opponents would be Marcel Granollers, Ivo Karlovic and Pablo Cuevas – not players that could feasibly get the better of the 17-time Slam winner over five sets you would think.

The last eight stage could potentially see him face his countryman and great friend Stanislas Wawrinka, whom he has a dominant head-to-head record with, before a possible semi-final match-up against Tomas Berdych, who is not known for his clay-court prowess.

Therefore, a place in the final for the first time since 2011 doesn’t seem too unlikely for the fading Federer, but should he get there he will most probably have to get the better of one of Djokovic, Nadal or Murray – it was never going to be an easy ride for the whole journey was it?

What Are His Chances?

His form and recent record at the French Open suggest that he is extremely unlikely to win this competition, something that you cannot say about the other three players that form the “Big Four”.

However, the generosity of his draw means a final appearance is not at all a farfetched idea, and he could go into the showpiece on the 7th of June in far fresher condition than his opponent given the calibre of player he will have had to displace compared to the man on the other side of the net.

It must be remembered though, that in the last two years in Paris, Federer has been downed by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Ernests Gulbis, so a handy draw might not be enough for the Swiss superstar to stroll into the final once more.

With that in mind, logic suggests that out of the “Big Four”, Roger Federer is the least likely to lift the Coupe des Mosquetaires in just over two weeks’ time. Write the great man off at your peril, however.