Roland-Garros: the end of Nadal, Djokovic in pain, Sinner and Zverev in ambush… why the tournament is the most uncertain in 20 years ?

Pour la gagne à Roland-Garros, tout est ouvert cette année. MAXPPP

For almost 20 years, never has a Roland-Garros for men been so uncertain even before the start of the tournament, this Sunday, May 25 in Paris.

We therefore had to wait for the aliens to become simple humans again. His body more and more bruised by the years of fighting spent in the four corners of the globe trying to monopolize glory, by kicking a yellow ball like deaf people.

And at the same time, the young guns chasing them don't get injured trying to keep up with the frantic pace of the last two living legends of tennis in the 21st century.

As the doors of the Roland-Garros stadium open this Sunday in Paris, very clever – even crazy – will be the one capable of stating with certainty who will lift the Musketeers' Cup at the end of the afternoon on June 9.

Dizzying anomaly

A dizzying anomaly at the Porte d’Auteuil since over the last 19 editions, a Spaniard has self-proclaimed himself Rafael XIV while a Serb Djokovic is the one having collected the most crumbs with three successes.

The only thing is, Rafael Nadal doesn't yet know his physical limits in the Grand Slam this year, the Serbian just doesn't know what's happening to him while Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are coming back from injuries.

Gaël Monfils summarizing the situation perfectly: "Are we not also returning to a much more traditional tennis than it was? before the last 20 years ? That’s mostly it. People have completely forgotten that tennis is not what happened over the last 20 years".

Nadal: "If I didn't have a minimum of hope of playing well here, I wouldn't be here"

Apart from world No.1 Novak Djokovic, who arrived at Porte d’Auteuil on Saturday after failing to regain confidence in the Geneva tournament (elimination in the semi-final), all the candidates to the final victory tried to reassure themselves. And show that we will have to count on them.

Starting with the master of the place Nadal, who has not completely closed the door to this Roland-Garros 2024 not ultimately being his last: " I'm better than a month ago so I'm not 100% sure. I'm aware that it's perhaps utopian but if I hadn't not a minimum hope of playing well here, I won't be there.

"Sorry to say this but I feel good and I'm competitive in training, I can beat anyone like I do ;rsquo;have seen for several days. Let's see how it goes in the match. But this is the first week where I play thinking only about the ball", he declared on Saturday in a packed press room.

Zverev, the big odds ?

Before thinking about a new title, the Mallorcan will especially have to beat Alexander Zverev in the first round on Monday afternoon. Recent winner in Rome, the German, who does not even seem upset by a legal case in his country where he is accused of domestic violence, is undoubtedly one of the biggest odds to win on Parisian ocher. A victory against Nadal opens his picture towards final victory as Moses did with the Red Sea.

The other question of this men's tournament, as full of contenders as July 14 in La Grande-Motte, is the form of the world No. 2 and 3 who are Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. The 22-year-old Italian is no longer bothered by his hip, according to him, even though it stopped him in his tracks after scattering the competition like a puzzle in Australia, Miami and Rotterdam.

As for the Spaniard, he also returns to competition after recovering (again) from a forearm injury. "I have no more pain but when I hit a forehand, I'm still a little afraid of hitting at 100%"< /em>, he said Thursday. Adding a little more uncertainty to this tournament. And for once, it's not worse.