One player who is inseparable from Roland Garros is Rafael Nadal (Spain). Since the Open era, Nadal has lifted 14 titles at Roland Garros alone. Over the years, Nadal has shown that even if he is not in the best of form at the start of the season, he has been able to improve his form like a ghost in time for Roland Garros. This year, Nadal has been injured since the start of the season, missing a number of tournaments in the first half of the year. Fans’ hopes that he would return to Roland Garros with the expectation of ‘if only Nadal’ were not realised. Most media outlets, both local and international, have started their predictions for this year’s Roland Garros with the phrase ‘no Nadal’.
Nadal’s last five Roland Garros results
2018: winner
2019: winner
2020: winner
2021 : quarter-final
2022: winner
Who should we look out for at Roland Garros this year without Nadal?
First, let”s take a look at the world rankings just before the tournament. The reference date is 22 May 2023. The tournaments that count towards the ranking points are those that took place between the last week of May 2022 and one year ago.
ATP World Ranking Top 10 (as of 22 May 2023)
1st. Carlos Alcaraz (Spain)
2nd. Danil Medvedev (Russia)
3rd. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
Fourth place. Casper Rudd (Norway)
5th. Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece)
6th. Holger Lune (Denmark)
7th place. Andrei RUBLEV (Russia)
8th place. Yannick SINNER (Italy)
9th place. Karen KACHANOV (Russia)
10th place. Cameron Norrie (Great Britain)
The following rankings will determine who will compete in the ATP Finals at the end of 2023. The ATP Finals will be a best-of-three format that combines ATP Tour and Grand Slam results for 2023. Unlike the World Rankings, it does not take into account 2022 results. The rankings are based on results from the January 2023 tournaments, so you can see which players are performing the best this year.스포츠토토
Top 10 ATP Finals Rankings 2023
1st place. Danil Medvedev
2nd. Carlos Alcaraz
3rd. Novak Djokovic
4th place. Stefanos Tsitsipas
5th place. Yannick Cigner
6th. Andrei RUBLEV
7th place. Holger Rune
8th place. Taylor Fritz (USA)
9th place. Karen KACHANOV
10th place. Cameron Norrie
Roland Garros 2023 Men’s Singles Seedings
- Carlos Alcaraz
No. 2. Danil Medvedev
No. 3. Novak Djokovic
No. 4. Casper Rood
No. 5. Stefanos Tsitsipas
No. 6. Holger Rune
No. 7. Andrei RUBLEV
No. 8. Yannick Siner
No. 9. Taylor Fritz
No. 10. Felix Ozer-Aliassime (Canada)
A crowned prince? Carlos Alcaraz
From the rankings and seedings, it’s clear that Carlos Alcaraz is the player to watch this year. Despite crashing out in the third round of the most recent BNL Italian International (Rome), the Spaniard won the Australian Open (Grand Slam), Indian Wells (ATP Masters 1000) and Barcelona (ATP 500) titles.
Alcaraz is widely regarded as Nadal’s heir apparent. Like Nadal, the Spaniard developed his tennis skills at the Nadal Academy. After competing in his first Grand Slam in 2020, he began to make his mark by winning the US Open last year. However, he missed the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, due to a right leg injury. The Roland Garros is the first Grand Slam of the year for Alcaraz, whose best Roland Garros result was a quarter-final in 2022.
Alcaraz’s Roland Garros (world rankings in brackets)
2020: Qualification, 1st round (318th)
2021: 3rd round (97th)
2022: quarter-final (6th)
Even Alcaraz is strong on clay. Most players from southern Europe and South America are stronger on clay, thanks to their hot, dry climates. With a career win percentage of 78 per cent, Alcaraz has a slightly better clay court win percentage of 80 per cent. There are currently four players in the top 10 who have a higher clay court winning percentage than their career winning percentage – Alcaraz, Rood, Tsitsipas and Raonic.
Comparison of the career winning percentage of the ATP World No. 10 by court (total/clay) (Source: ITF)
Alcaraz : 78% / 80
Medvedev: 71% / 64
Djokovic : 83% / 81%
Lourdes : 65% / 69%
Tsitsipas : 68% / 76
Lune : 68% / 69
Rublev : 65% / 63%
Siner : 68% / 65
Kachanov : 60% / 58
Nori: 64% / 63
All eyes are on Alcaraz, given his results this year, his claycourt form, and even Nadal’s halo. Can he make Roland Garros his crowning glory this year?
Who else to watch out for?
Djokovic, Lune
International bookmakers are also giving Alcaraz the best odds to win the title. As of 27 May, the major bookmakers were offering the shortest odds on Alcaraz. The low odds indicate that a lot of people have picked Alcacer to win. Even if Alcaraz wins, those who picked him will receive a smaller payout than those who picked other players.
BET 365
Alcaraz: 2.60
Djokovic: 3.50
Lune: 8.50
Medvedev: 9.00
Thiem: 12.00
Cichipas: 17.00
Lourdes: 17.00
Alexander Zverev (Germany): 26.00
oddschecker
Alcaraz : +160
Djokovic : +260
Rune: +950
Medvedev : +1000
Sinner: +1300
Rudd: +2000
Tsitsipas: +2000
Zverev: +3100
Caesar’s Sportsbook – CBS Sports
Alcaraz: +150
Djokovic: +230
Lune: +700
Medvedev: +800
Thiem: +1100
Chichipas: +1400
Rudd: +1600
Zverev: +2500
Ruflev: +4000
Medvedev, who won the Italian International and is currently ranked No. 1 in the ATP Finals rankings, was surprisingly not highly rated by foreign bookmakers. Instead, they have opted for Djokovic. If he wins this tournament, he will single-handedly win the Grand