There's a reason why Rafael Nadal was a consensus no.1 pick to win the French Open the past 10 years. Then, there's reason why he's not this year.
Bleacher Report writer Merlisa Lawrence Corbett predicts Nadal to fall short of reaching the French Open semifinal for the second consecutive year.
Corbett believes a tough draw along with an overpowering Novak Djokovic will bethe biggest roadblocks for Nadal to achieve his 10th crowd on red dirt of Roland Garros.
"The French Open has been good for the King of Clay, who is a nine-time winner at Roland Garros. However, Nadal's woes of late have not been surface-specific. Last year, he failed to win any of the major French Open clay-court tuneups. More trouble awaits this year. Nadal will fail to reach the semifinals."
On the other hand, Corbett seems to be 'very optimistic' on Djokovic's chances of completing a career Grand Slam. He picked the Serb to win his first ever French Open winner and join other legends in the elite circle.
"Djokovic's win at the Australian Open put him in the company of such names as Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver and Roy Emerson. However, despite his recent success, Djokovic remains linked to these names: Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras-tennis greats who never won a French Open.
This year, Djokovic finally leaves that exclusive club and wins his first French Open."
Nadal is coming off his worst Australian Open campaign, having lost to Fernando Verdasco in the first round. To keep him on the right track, the Spaniard accepted a wildcard entry at the Argentina Open, kicking off his clay-court campaign much earlier than expected.
Djokovic, meanwhile, has been on fire in the tour, winning the last three Grand Slam tournaments and claiming his 11th Grand Slam at the Australian Open.
For more French Open predictions, here's Corbett's full feature article on B/R