Of the many qualities that make up a champion, few count for more than an ability to cope with adversity. With a fair wind and a clean bill of health, good players will always thrive. What sets apart the elite is their response to being blown off course – be it physically, mentally or emotionally. With one notable exception, none of the game’s leading lights have enjoyed an entirely smooth ride this season, and whoever charts a course to glory at Roland Garros will not have done so without overcoming a few bumps in the road.
Nobody has more on their plate than Rafael Nadal, who has already offered one spectacular demonstration of his powers of recovery this season and must now produce another, following the latest flare-up of his chronic foot injury.
For the first three months of the year, Nadal was unstoppable. Having missed the second half of last season to rest his troublesome left foot, the Spaniard returned to the tour in January with a vengeance, compiling a sequence of 20 consecutive victories and three straight titles that included a record 21st major at the Australian Open.
Then, in late March, the 35-year-old’s campaign was derailed by a fractured rib that sidelined him for six weeks, forcing him to miss the start of the clay-court swing. With the countdown to Paris well underway, Nadal returned in Madrid only to suffer a first loss to teenage compatriot Alcaraz. Worse was to come in Rome, where he limped to defeat against Denis Shapovalov and spoke wearily afterwards of how pain has become a way of life, sparking fears he might not even make it to Paris.
Make it he has, though, fuelled by painkillers and anti-inflammatories, and he is ready to face down adversity again. He will not be making a song and dance about the deformed bone in his foot.
“The pain is there always,” said Nadal, who will open his challenge for a 14th title against Jordan Thompson of Australia, the world No 82. “It’s not going to disappear now. It’s about if the pain is high and strong enough to allow me to play with real chances or not.
“I will answer the questions, but I will not be talking all the time about my foot. I understand that it’s something that’s normal after what happened in Rome, but in my case it is something that I live with every day, so it is nothing new for me and is not a big surprise. I am here just to play tennis and to try to make the best result possible.”
The best result possible has traditionally involved lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires on the third Sunday, and it is a measure of Nadal’s extraordinary dominance on the Parisian clay, where he has lost just three times in 108 matches, that he remains among the favourites for the title despite his infirmity. The Mallorcan understands the fickle nature of his profession and, having prospered against the odds in Australia, he is hopeful that history could repeat itself.
“I didn’t have the preparation that I would like, and unfortunately that rib fracture stopped a little bit the great moment that I was having since the start of the season,” said Nadal, who is seeded fifth after his defeat to Shapovalov enabled Stefanos Tsitsipas to overtake him in the rankings.
“But in sport, things can change quick, and the only thing that I can do is try to be ready if that change happens. Today looks difficult, and looks [like] there are players that are in better shape than me, without a doubt. [It] is true today, but you never know what can happen in the next couple of days. The same happened in Australia, and I put myself in a position to have a chance. Here is no different. The only thing I have to do is believe in my chances, believe in my daily work, and then stay positive.”
Few know more about staying positive than defending champion Novak Djokovic, who will meet Nadal in the last eight if the seedings hold. While his rival’s travails have been physical, Djokovic’s challenges have been more of the mental and emotional variety, with his refusal to take a Covid vaccine drawing him into all manner of strife. That he arrives in Paris firmly in contention for a third title, after a season that began with his deportation from Australia and saw him unable to contest the US hard-court swing, is testament to the world No 1’s strength of will. Having shrugged off an understandably slow start to the clay-court swing, Djokovic has gradually played his way into form, as he demonstrated last week by subduing Tsitsipas to claim his sixth Italian Open crown.
“For me, historically it always has required some time and several tournaments to really feel comfortable playing on clay,” said Djokovic, who faces Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in round one. “Rarely did I feel my best on clay in the first or second tournament of the season. That was the case this season again. It took me two tournaments to really feel that I’m getting closer to desired level. I reached that level in Rome.
“I feel I am always in contention to fight for any grand slam trophy. I believe in my own abilities to get far and to fight for one of the most prestigious trophies in the world of tennis. As a defending champion of course more so, to believe I can do it again. Reliving the memories from last year is something that gives me goosebumps and motivation to try to replicate that. But obviously every season and every year is different. There are so many players that want to put their hands on that trophy in a few weeks’ time. I’m very much aware of it.”
One of those players is Alcaraz, who also finds himself in the overloaded top half of the draw. If the 19-year-old can repeat his victory over Alexander Zverev in the final of the Madrid Open a fortnight ago, he will face the winner of the projected Djokovic-Nadal showdown in the semi-finals. He is unlikely to be daunted by that prospect, after overcoming both men in the Spanish capital, the first player ever to do so on consecutive days on clay. Rightly installed among the title favourites, the Spanish sixth seed is in a golden period of his career, his Midas touch evident in a return of four titles and just three defeats in 31 matches since the turn of the year.
But while the rising Murcian has enjoyed a near perfect build-up to the season’s second slam, with titles in Barcelona and Madrid enabling him to skip Rome to ensure that he arrived in Paris in optimum physical condition, he too has shown the mettle of a champion. Two months ago in Miami, Alcaraz bounced back from a narrow defeat to Nadal in Indian Wells to claim his first Masters 1000 title. He did so in the absence of his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, who flew home before the start of the tournament following the sudden death of his father. The poise and maturity with which Alcaraz handled the situation, scrawling supportive messages to Ferrero on TV cameras as he stormed past Stefanos Tsitsipas and Hubert Hurkacz, spoke volumes for his ability to retain focus in difficult circumstances. So too did his performance against Casper Ruud in the final, which he won in straight sets after Ferrero made a surprise return to the US on the eve of the match. It was a show of resilience that augurs well as he attempts to prove that he can reproduce his recent swashbuckling form over the best of five sets.
While Nadal, Djokovic and Alcaraz dispute favouritism, what of Zverev and Tsitsipas? The pair contested a memorably combative semi-final last year, Zverev battling back from sets to love down before the Greek finally prevailed 6-3 in the fifth. Both have had to contend with challenges this season. In Zverev’s case, they have been mostly self-inflicted. The German third seed has the sword of Damocles hanging over him following his violent tirade in Acapaulco three months ago, with a suspended eight-week ban set to kick in should there be any repeat of the violent outburst that saw him attack the umpire’s chair with his racket. That has not prevented him from reaching semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Rome, as well as the title round in Madrid, but a convincing win for Alcaraz in the Spanish capital would suggest the 25-year-old will have his work cut out in the last eight if the seedings hold.
The most likely beneficiary of the top-heavy nature of the draw, given second seed Daniil Medvedev’s well-known aversion to clay and lack of matchplay following his recent return from a hernia operation, would seem to be Tsitsipas. The Greek fourth seed has been a magnet for controversy since last summer, when he led Djokovic by two sets to love on the final Sunday in Paris, with coaching violations and allegations of gamesmanship threatening to upset his seemingly stellar trajectory in the game. But he likes nothing better than the feel of red dirt beneath his feet, and has largely avoided such problems since defending his Monte Carlo title, compiling an impressive clay-court campaign that has seen him reach the latter stages in both Madrid and Rome.
“I have shown good tennis here, I have shown good tennis in the last couple of tournaments,” said Tsitsipas, who faces a tough opener against Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti, with whom he shares the distinction of having held a two-set lead over Djokovic last summer.
“But every year has something different to offer. It depends on a lot of things. It depends on the weather. It depends on who I’m faced with and what my condition is. I don’t look far into the tournament, because I like to stay present and take every single match at a time. That’s the best way to do it, in my opinion. When you’re overconfident, that can turn against you. When you’re not confident, can also turn against you. So looking for that sweet balance is the key.”
Finding balance amid turmoil: it is an approach all the chief contenders will recognise. May the games begin.