No man has won one of the Grand Slam singles titles 10 times or more in any era – the only woman to do so was Margaret Court, who claimed the Australian Open on 11 occasions. But in-form Rafael Nadal now has a brilliant chance of making history once again by adding another French Open crown to his trophy cabinet and complete ‘La Decima.’ It certainly seems that 2017 is a year of round numbers for the superstar Spaniard.
After recently becoming the first man in the Open Era to win a singles tournament 10 times – the Monte Carlo Masters – he now heads to the Barcelona Open in attempt to do the same thing. On top of that, after triumphing in Monaco, he now overtakes Guillermo Vilas in claiming his 50th clay court title. Surely it’s written in the stars that Nadal should claim his 10th French Open trophy, three years after his last at Roland Garros? He’s even been made the favourite for the title with the bookies, and you can pick out the best odds through Online Bookmakers.
Injuries have ravaged Nadal’s career, particularly in the past couple of years, yet he still sits second-equal in the all-time Grand Slam title list with 14 – four behind Roger Federer and level with Pete Sampras. That gives him yet another incentive to rule the clay once more.
The 30-year-old has looked back to his best this year, after reaching the Australian Open final – narrowly losing out to old nemesis and fellow revitalised veteran Federer in five sets. Swiss great Federer may even chose to sit out the Paris event in 2017, with an aim to focus on his favoured Wimbledon and US Open tournaments.
With world’s number one and two Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic respectively suffering from fitness and form issues, it’s all set up for Nadal to capitalise. While younger pretenders Dominic Thiem, Nick Kyrgios, Kei Nishikori, Juan Martin Del Potro, Alexander Zverev and Milos Raonic, as well as 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka, will of course be threats, but on his day Nadal will not be stopped by any of them.
