‘I still think Novak Djokovic is the main favourite for the event’

Novak Djokovic may have suffered several setbacks ahead of the French Open, but he is still very much the favourite to win at Roland Garros, according to Holger Rune.

After missing the Madrid Open due to an elbow injury, Djokovic made his return at the Italian Open as he looked to defend his title.

However, it was not the best of fortnights for him in Rome as he first lost his world No 1 ranking to Carlos Alcaraz as the Spaniard only needed to make an appearance in the tournament to usurp him. He was then defeated by Rune in the quarter-final as the rising star defeated him 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

To add insult to injury, the 22-time Grand Slam winner dropped to No 3 in the latest ATP Rankings after Daniil Medvedev won the Italian Open, which of course means he will be seeded behind the Alcaraz and the Russian at Roland Garros.

With Rafael Nadal not defending his title in Paris, Alcaraz and Djokovic were made favourites, but Medvedev has now also added his name to the equation as he is 10-2 on clay this year.

After finishing runner-up to Medvedev, Rune was asked for his thoughts on Roland Garros and replied: “I still think Novak is the main favourite for the event.

“He’s the one with the most Slams of who’s playing, the most experienced. Then we have Alcaraz. We have Medvedev. We have a lot of guys. I think if I have to pick one favourite, I’ll probably pick Novak. But it’s more open as we don’t have Rafa this year.

“For sure [Medvedev] has been showing some good signs in this clay season, playing better and better. For sure I think he is one of the favourites.”

Rune himself is a dark horse for the French Open as last year he reached the quarter-final on his debut. This year he will head to Paris with a 13-3 record on clay as he also finished runner-up in Monte Carlo and won the BMW Open.

“My feeling right now is not the best, but it’s been a good clay season so far. I made three finals out of four tournaments so in that way I can’t complain,” the 20-year-old, who is up to a career-high No 6 in the rankings, said.

“But as many of you know, I am a very eager person to win titles and hopefully I can learn. Paris is the main goal of the clay season and I think I had the matches I needed to be as well prepared as possible and now it is just the final small things I want to do better.”

READ MORE: Holger Rune has narrowed the gap to Carlos Alcaraz, says Roger Federer’s former coach