Roger Federer believes Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will be the top contenders in this year's French Open, where all three rivals will have a chance to play against each other.
Federer thinks Djokovic would be the "favorite" to win the French Open next month, considering the Serb's impressive run this season minus the stunning loss against Jiri Vesely at the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco. But the Swiss also admitted Nadal could be the "player to beat" after the Spaniard won back-to-back titles in the clay-court season.
"[Nadal] He's the player to beat. Novak has never won in Paris. Could be now the favorite, but Nadal is Nadal," Federer told Marca as translated by Tennis.
In all of Djokovic's 11 Grand Slam titles, the Belgrade native has never won the French Open, although he was close to winning it thrice in 2012, 2014 and 2015.
But considering his remarkable run this season, the 28-year-old appears as the favorite to win the French Open title, although, after his stunning loss in Monaco, there are concerns whether Djokovic need to stay sharp by competing to the lead-up tournaments or get ample rest for the second Grand Slam event of the year.
"Maybe Djokovic is being overly cautious about burning out, but perhaps his carefully planned schedule for rest could lead to rust. While Nadal is streaking back to serious clay-court contention, Djokovic is on the sidelines perhaps wondering if he should have played a tune-up match at Barcelona or Bucharest," Jeremy Eckstein of Bleacher Report wrote.
Djokovic will only have two tournaments in Madrid and Rome before hitting the clay-court in Paris, which would probably give the world No. 1 enough time to rest and gauge his form.
Nadal, on the other hand, has conquered Roland Garros nine times in his career, most recently two years ago, when the Spaniard defeated Djokovic in the final round.
Many pundits believe Nadal has found his vintage form after defeating the likes of Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka en route to a final round victory over Gael Monfils at the Monte Carlo Masters, and a convincing win over Kei Nishikori at the recently-concluded Barcelona Open.
ESPN's tennis analyst Peter Bodo is sold at Nadal's latest victory as the most impressive of all his wins since winning Roland Garros in 2014.
"Through most of his slump, we frequently saw flashes of vintage Nadal. These past weeks, in Monte Carlo and particularly in Barcelona, we watched vintage Nadal, albeit with flashes of his slump," Bodo wrote.
While Djokovic may have the upper hand in terms of the success he has this year, Nadal could really be the man to beat in Paris, especially now that the King of Clay have finally found his old form after a successful trip on the red-clay surfaces of Monaco and Barcelona.