During Patrick McEnroe’s podcast, current Eurosport pundit Mary Joe Fernandez talkes with Patrick, and the two discussed the possible favorite at Roland Garros, should the tournament begin in the coming weeks. The former tennis player, among other things former number 4 in the world rankings, has clear ideas and explained: “If Rafael Nadal is healthy, I say that the favorite is still Nadal.
Someone who wins a tournament 14 times, the favorite every time he plays, even if he hasn’t played for the rest of the year”. Mary Joe explained her motivations by continuing: “When Rafa plays on clay he becomes a different tennis player, then he is even more special when he has to play at the French Open.” The former tennis player went on to explain that it is true that Novak Djokovic has already beaten him in Paris, but in the end it will all depend on Nadal’s physical condition and this is the truth.
Time is still missing but there is already great hype about the tournament.
Rafa at the French Open 2023
The ATP tennis Tour experiences a phase of the year of stalemate with tennis players engaged in minor tournaments with often few big ones and tournaments that are divided into 250 and 500.
In just under a month the 1000 tournaments on American hard will begin and only later the clay court season will officially begin. These days this surface has been played in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, but there is still plenty of time for tournaments such as Montecarlo or the long-awaited Masters 1000 in Rome.
It should not be forgotten that these are preparatory tournaments in view of the next major event of the season, the Roland Garros in Paris. The second Slam of the year is highly anticipated, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic will both start with 22 Grand Slam titles and Paris is probably the Slam where they have the closest level.
A lot will also depend on the conditions of the Majorcan champion, who has been constantly in the pits due to injury in recent months.
