[1]Nadal v Isner
Giraldo v Andujar
Cuevas v Qualifier
Qualifier v [28]Davydenko
[24]Querrey v Kohlschreiber
Ljubicic v Devvarman
Tursunov v Malisse
Monaco v [16]Verdasco
[10]Fish v Mello
Gimeno-Traver v Haase
Chardy v Dimitrov
Russell v [18]Simon
[27]Baghdatis v Gil
Qualifier v Brown
Qualifier v Qualifier
Becker v [5]Soderling
——————-
[4]Murray v Qualifier
Qualifier v Qualifier
Clement v Volandri
Berrer v [26]Raonic
[21]Dolgopolov v Schuettler
Haider-Maurer v Sweeting
Kamke v Rochus
Reister v [15]Troicki
[11]Almagro v Qualifier
Berlocq v Tomic
Starace v Qualifier
Kunitsyn v [20]Mayer
[32]Anderson v Mahut
Chela v Smyczek
Roger-Vasselin v Qualifier
Qualifier v [8]Melzer
——————-
[7]Ferrer v Nieminen
Benneteau v Machado
Nishikori v Lu
Qualifier v [31]Stakhovsky
[22]Llodra v Qualifier
Petzschner v Zverev
Mannarino v Rufin
Qualifier v [9]Monfils
[14]Wawrinka v Qualifier
Qualifier v M.Gonzalez
Serra v Andreev
Hajek v [17]Tsonga
[29]Tipsarevic v Dabul
Dodig v Riba
Millot v Teixeira
Lopez v [3]Federer
——————-
[6]Berdych v Qualifier
Fognini v Istomin
Haas v Qualifier
Kendrick v [30]Garcia-Lopez
[19]Cilic v Ramirez-Hidalgo
Hewitt v Montanes
Brands v Kukushkin
Soeda v [12]Youzhny
[13]Gasquet v Stepanek
Qualifier v Granollers
Gabashvili v Seppi
Golubev v [23]Bellucci
[25]Del Potro v Karlovic
Gulbis v Kavcic
Paire v Hanescu
De Bakker v [2]Djokovic
http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/draws/ms/index.html
The first thing in the draw to look at is where Roger is. He is in the third quarter, which happens to b a pretty good quarter to be in. He has a potentially tricky first round against Lopez though, having almost lost to Lopez in the third set tie break in Madrid. But this being Paris, which have slower conditions than Madrid and being a grand slam, I think Roger shouldn’t have too many problems here. But then again I said the same thing in Madrid. I don’t really want to look past the first round with Roger these days, but for the sake of the draw I will look a bit further. If he beats Lopez he faces the winner of two unknown players. Then he could face Tipsarevic, and to keep his quarter final streak at slams going he will have to probably beat Wawrinka or Tsonga. Wawrinka hasn’t done much in the clay season and we know Tsonga is very beatable on clay.
So I would be a little surprised if Roger doesn’t make quarter finals at least. Then for a place in the semi-finals he will meet Ferrer most probably. Usually Roger would be the clear favorite against Ferrer for me, but given his form during the clay court season I wouldn’t be so sure. But it’s nonetheless not a bad draw until the semi-finals. He could have gotten Gasquet, Berdych, or Soderling in his quarter, which would probably have been harder. Then Roger happens to be in Djokovic’s half of the draw. That is of course better than being in Nadal’s half. So if he makes it all the way to the semis he will at least have a better chance of winning than against Nadal. Djokovic has a tough draw himself and an upset is not impossible. So in the end I’m not looking past the first round for Roger, but sort of expect him to make quarter finals at least.
If we look at Nadal’s draw, it is probably harder than most of his draws. I like that he has Isner in the first round, even though Isner is pretty clueless on clay. I hope Isner can test him a bit. I am interested to see what Nadal’s form will be like after suffering a fourth consecutive final loss to Djokovic in Rome. After Madrid he looked vulnerable against Lorenzi, losing the first set. So I will once again be looking for signs of vulnerability from Nadal in the early rounds. He could face Davydenko in the third round, but with Nadal’s luck in draws I wouldn’t be surprised if Davydenko doesn’t make it. At least he could meet Soderling in the quarter finals, and Murray in the semi-finals. I think those two could test him. If he is vulnerable after the string of losses to Djokovic, one of those two may well step up and take advantage.
Murray has probably the easiest draw of the top four and you would expect him to make the semis. Is it just me or does he always get these easy draws? Djokovic on the other hand has the hardest draw of the top four I think. He has the dark horse Del Potro in the third round, and another dark horse Gasquet in the fourth round. Then he has Berdych and then Roger. I hope Djokovic doesnt get upset however, as I would like to see him beat Nadal in the final and devastate the Spaniard. In my last post I said winning the French Open will be a mere formality for Djokovic. Admittedly that was a bit premature, given that Nadal has won this thing five times in the last six years and the draw as well. But nonetheless Djokovic is the favorite for me. He is still unbeaten this year and will be extremely motivated to win his first slam outside of Australia.
He has so far dominated Nadal this season, but he needs to strike the knockout blow. Paris is really where it’s at. If Nadal beats Djokovic there he will mostly forget about the last four final losses to him. However, should Djokovic beat him there the ownage will be complete. Then you may well see Nadal going into a slump which would be just terrific. If not, Nadal will be the clay GOAT and on ten slams, one closer to Roger’s record of sixteen…