Last Updated on August 3, 2020
French Open 2020, which will now commence in late September this year will witness Rafael Nadal returning to Roland Garros to extend his record French Open title wins to 13. Last year everyone saw the gritty Spaniard getting the better of Dominic Thiem for the second successive year, thereby winning the 19th grand Slam title of his career, reducing the gap with himself and Roger Federer to just one Grand Slam win.
As everyone might be aware, Roger Federer having undergone a knee surgery in February, will not be taking part in French Open this time. Rafael Nadal on the other hand will start as a huge favourite yet again, aiming for the championship for the fourth consecutive year. However, who all do you think would possibly challenge him in his journey? Let’s look at the top 3 contenders for French Open 2020 Men’s Championship starting with Rafael Nadal and then looking at a couple of players who could give him a hard time.
Rafael Nadal
Aged 33, Rafa was being offered at odds of 11/10 for French Open win at the start of last year’s edition of the tournament. Fast forward 12 months and the greatest clay-court tennis player in the history of the game, is being offered at even shorter odds of 17/20. You could look up the French Open 2020 Men’s Championship winner odds for the latest figures.
To tell you about his form, the left-handed Spaniard has dropped only 3 sets in his last three French Open campaigns, two of which happened last year alone, including a set lost to Thiem in the final of 2019. That’s how good he is on the clay! However, Rafa has been suffering from knee injuries over the past few seasons. Provided that he doesn’t take any risks prior to the tournament, and continues to be in good health, a 13th title is definitely on the cards.
Novak Djokovic
The only French Open that Novak Djokovic has won in his entire tennis career came in the year 2016, when Nadal had to pull out of the tournament in the third round, because of a wrist injury. The Serb has reached the quarter-final almost every time since the year 2010, and lost to Thiem in an epic five-set battle in the semi-finals of 2019.
There is a high likelihood that he would be on the opposite side of the draw against Nadal, the reason why he is going at shorter odds than Thiem.
Dominic Thiem
Having reached the career-high world ranking of 3 in February this year, Dominic Thiem for long has been lauded as the player to replace Rafa as the King of Clay. However, he didn’t perform as expected during the last couple of finals. Nevertheless, the impressive Austrian has got the better of Nadal on clay each year since 2016, but never at Roland Garros. It should be noted that of the 5 titles that he won in 2019, 2 of them came on clay. Provided he brings his Triple-A game to the French Open this time, he will definitely be in with a chance to win his first Grand Slam.
