In short... no. Thanks for reading.This is to those people who lambaste me for doing non-sporty blogs. Not mentioning names (Denny boi), we know who you are!
"Why you never serious?" asked the great philosophiser that is Jens.
Ok. In all seriousness, Jens, there are players who can beat Rafa in the upcoming Roland Garros, but I honestly do not believe anyone will.
The man has lost twice there since 2005. TWICE! Robin Soderling in 2009 and Novak Djokovic in 2015. Every single other time he has played there, since the age of 18, he has won the thing!
The key to beating Rafa is to be strong off both wings, move well, take the ball earlier than he does, get lots of free points on serve and you have to have very high fitness levels.
The best example of this, bar the serve, would be a Novak Djokovic or a Nikolay Davydenko, that match-fixing Russian, bless him.
But, I shall endeavour to give satisfaction, or at least attempt it, and provide a list of the players who could, at least, trouble the 10-time French Open champion.
1) Novak Djokovic: Now I know what you are thinking, if you follow tennis, that is.
The Serb is having, by his lofty standards, a wretched season. Only recently has he improved from a 50% win record to post 10 wins and 7 losses in 2018. Only once has he made it to a quarter final this year, and that was last week in Rome.
But he is one of the chosen... two... who have tamed El Matador and he has a winning record against him - precious few can say that.
He ran him pretty close in the Italian capital last week and he looks as if he is coming into form. Being ranked outside the top 20, he could face Rafa in round 3. I still feel it is too soon for the former world number one and I am not sure he can go toe-to-toe with the Spaniard - but then again, who can?
2) Dominic Thiem:The Austrian hasn't had his best clay court season but he did beat Nadal in Madrid, albeit the conditions are quicker and less favourable to the veteran there than they are at Roland Garros.
He moves well, is a huge hitter and his best surface is clay. He has beaten Rafa 3 times before on the dirt and he has the ability to outhit the Spaniard, but whether he can do it in a best of five set much is questionable.
This could be another quarter final clash between the two, but I believe Thiem will try to go for too much, as he did when he was thrashed by Rafa in the French Open semi-final last year, and he will get picked off.
3) Alexander Zverev:
Despite having a 0-5 record against Nadal, the 21-year-old Sascha has all the weapons to tame the bull, but he still is yet to do it. In their first ever meeting, when Zverev was 19, he missed a sitter of a match point and Rafa came back and won.At last year's Australian Open, Zverev took him to five sets, with his serve, power and bruising backhand doing all sorts of damage on the day - but it wasn't enough.
The German is yet to progress to a quarter final of a slam and as the number two seed he will only get another crack of the whip if he makes it to the final, something I do not think he will do. His form, however, is superb. He is now number one in the ATP race and had been on a 13-match winning streak on clay, before losing in the Rome final to Nadal. The world number 3 did have a 3-1 lead in the final set but Rafa, shock!, stormed back to win.
Zverev, for me, is a player that needs to get one win over Rafa and then I believe he could achieve many more. He needs to hug that baseline though or he has no chance.
4) Hyeon Chung:Not many may choose this guy, but I believe he has the tools to trouble Nadal, if not at Roland Garros, then in the years to come.
Chung hasn't kicked on as much as I would have liked after his heroics in Australia, but he has been unlucky with injuries too.
His court coverage is fantastic, his fitness is very impressive, he is so strong in rallies, he can take the ball early and he can beat big players on the biggest stages (Novak in straights Down Under).
This guy could be a bad match up for Rafa, but again, Chung has been injured of late, so that doesn't bode well.
5) Fabio Fognini:
When the Italian is firing on all cylinders, he can be a match for anyone. He has beaten Nadal on clay and most of the time he runs him close in defeat. Fabio came from two sets down to conquer Rafa in the US open three years ago. However, a lot has changed since then and Fognini has known nothing but defeat against the Spaniard from then on. I do not think he can pull his genius off for three sets, but he has a puncher's chance.
(6) Nicolas Jarry: I am pretty sure nobody will be talking about this guy but if you have seen him play on the clay this year, you will see he has a huge game off of the forehand and backhand. His serve is a weapon and he doesn't move like a tree. The unseeded 22-year-old could be another Soderling or a Lukas Rosol, but probably not. Watch out for this giant in the future though.
Footnote: Andy Murray is injured, Stan Wawrinka is on the comeback trail and it is unlikely that Babolat will use faster tennis balls like they did in 2011, when Rafa almost lost in round one to Big John Isner.
Here is my prediction. Rafa will win his 11th French Open but he will drop a set! Considering last year the soon-to-be 32-year-old did not, that is a big claim...
