Now that the clay court season is underway, attention turns to the next Grand Slam event on the tennis calendar – the French Open. Set to get underway at the famed Roland-Garros on May 22, the pinnacle of the spring campaign always throws up plenty of entertainment amid the tough, grinding tennis on the slowest of the sport’s surfaces. —Additionally, the clay court season tends to be more physically demanding on the players, as the ball bounces higher and takes longer to reach the other side of the court. With the right strategy and technique, however, any player can find success on any Tennis Court Surface Type.
Rafa Nadal will be desperate to recapture the men’s singles title after Novak Djokovic wrestled the trophy away from him last year – at 11/10 in the Betfair tennis odds for the French Open, the bookmakers believe the Spaniard is a hot favourite to land an astonishing fourteenth victory in Paris.
In the women’s draw, Barbora Krejcikova was a rather surprising winner 12 months ago, and that means that eight different names have been engraved on the French Open trophy in as many years.
It’s always fun to try and get one step ahead of the game and predict those who could make waves at Roland-Garros in 2022, so here’s a look at three clay-court stars who could make hay under the Paris sun.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
The Spaniard hit the headlines recently when he dumped Djokovic out of the Monte Carlo Masters, and while that is the most eye-catching win of his career to date, Davidovich Fokina has enjoyed plenty of below-the-radar success already.
?? “I was really chasing the result constantly”
Novak Djokovic said he was ‘on the ropes for the entire match’ during his shock defeat in the Monte-Carlo Masters to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.pic.twitter.com/zKBK3h9r3k
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) April 12, 2022
Born to a Swedish father and Russian mother, the 22-year-old has lived his whole life in Spain – hence why he is such a dangerous customer on the clay.
He enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals of the French Open 12 months ago, and knocked out seeded opposition on his way to the business end of events in Monte Carlo and Estoril in 2021 – a year in which he won 51% of his return points on clay, which is an extraordinary number.
Paula Badosa
While she’s ranked as high as three with the WTA, Paula Badosa’s ascent to the top of women’s tennis has still gone somewhat under the radar.
At 12/1 for a wide-open tournament, the Spaniard has to be considered a very interesting proposition – particularly given her progress on clay. A quarter-finalist at Roland-Garros 12 months ago, Badosa also reached a WTA final in Belgrade and the semi-finals of the Madrid Masters.
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Nine #IndianWells wins in a row!
No está mal, @paulabadosa ? pic.twitter.com/oULknh18wx
— wta (@WTA) March 16, 2022
A finalist in Sydney earlier this year, with deep runs in Miami and Indian Wells, Badosa has exactly the profile we should be looking for in a potential French Open champion.
Casper Ruud
Given that he sits seventh in the ATP rankings, it’s something of a mystery as to why Casper Ruud is as long as 20/1 to win the French Open – Nadal’s expected dominance aside.
The Norwegian has already reached two finals in 2022 – winning his clay-court appearance in Buenos Aires, and made the last four of the classy ATP Tour Finals at the end of last season.
But it’s his clay-court pedigree that really excites – Ruud won a whopping four titles on the surface in 2021, and he has to be considered a very dangerous contender indeed for French Open glory.
He, like Berrettini and Badosa, can expect big things in the weeks ahead.