French Open Men`s Singles Tournament Winner Preview

Three of the four usual suspects have reached the French Open men’s semi-finals, but Roger Federer has exited early, with Ernests Gulbis seeing the Swiss off in five sets in the fourth-round. Most pundits predicted a Novak Djokovic v Rafael Nadal final before the tournament began, but is anyone capable of knocking off the two top seeds before they meet?

Beginning with Gulbis, the Latvian is a much more capable player than many realise, and I would make him favourite to come through against his more salubrious quarter-final opponent. Tomas Berdych made a Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, but I would question whether his defensive capabilities are good enough for him to prevail regularly on clay. So you can eliminate Berdych from the reckoning straight away.

Gulbis would then run into the winner of the Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic quarter-final. The Canadian actually trouble recently when the two met on clay at Rome, and their only two meetings, ironically, are on the crushed red brick. Djokovic has unsurprisingly won both, and I expect his play on clay to be too enterprising for his big serving opponent.

This would set up a Gulbis-Djokovic semi-final. Gulbis has fantastic groundstrokes and is probably one of the few players in the world who can seriously test Djokovic from the back of the court. But Djokovic is so experienced on the big stage by now, and has fantastic big match temperament I have to back him to make yet another Grand Slam final.

In the top half of the draw, one might expect the repeat of last year’s final between Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer to be the standout encounter. But the meeting between an in-form Andy Murray and French favourite Gael Monfils looks particularly irresistible, and should be an epic and engaging encounter.

This is a very tough match to call. Monfils can play some brilliant tennis at times, but doesn’t have the solidity and stability of the rock solid Murray game. Of course, the Briton has a pedigree that Monfils doesn’t share, but balancing this out, clay unquestionably suits the Frenchman’s game. It will be a tough match for Murray to win in front of an extremely partisan crowd, and I think this might just give Monfils the edge.

But can either Ferrer or Mofils stop Nadal? I seriously doubt it. Although Ferrer beat Nadal on clay recently, his record against the supreme Spaniard is dismal, whereas Nadal has beaten Monfils on seven of the last eight occasions that they’ve played, and four out of four on clay.

So what of the final? Nadal and Djokovic should hopefully deliver another classic. Many people felt going into the tournament that Djokovic could be considered a slight favourite, and he has been getting on top of Nadal in recent meetings. Nadal is unable to dominate the Djokovic backhand with his forehand as he does with other players. But stopping Nadal over five sets on clay, which has only ever been done once, is extremely difficult, and I’m going to tip the Spaniard to triumph in five tough sets.

Tip: Nadal to win

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03/06/2014     © Frixo 2026