‘Rafael Nadal will play the French Open and he will be favourite’

Rafael Nadal may be struggling with injury ahead of Roland Garros, but the 14-time champion is the favourite to be last man standing in Paris, according to Daniil Medvedev.

22-time Grand Slam winner Nadal has played only four matches so far this year with the last a second-round defeat at the Australian Open on January 18.

He has been struggling with a hip injury he picked up at Melbourne Park and was initially set to make his comeback at the Sunshine Double, but he withdrew from both the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open as well as the subsequent Monte Carlo Masters and this week’s Barcelona Open.

The Madrid Open and Italian Open are next on Nadal’s calendar, but it means he will not have too many matches under his belt once the French Open arrives at the end of May.

However, it won’t be the first time that an undercooked Nadal has played at the French Open as last year he went all the way despite playing only five matches on the clay in the build-up to the tournament.

And for that reason Medvedev is finding it difficult to look past the 36-year-old in terms of favourites for Paris.

“It’s like before the tournament here. It doesn’t change for me,” he said. “If I’m able to play well and I reach the semi-final and then I see there is no Rafa or Novak, it changes.

“Although now Rafa is not as well ranked, I might meet him before, but for the time being, I believe Rafa will play the French Open, although I’m not in his body. I don’t want to talk for him. But he will be a favourite, even if he didn’t play before. He won 14 times this Grand Slam, so he will be the favourite.

“It doesn’t change anything for me, but if I go far in the tournament, then the draw becomes easier if there are not those two guys who won 44 Grand Slams.”

Medvedev has never made a secret of the fact that he is not clay-court fan, but he has upped his game on the surface this year as he reached the quarter-final of the Monte Carlo Masters last week, losing against Holger Rune in straight sets.

So far he has reached only one clay final – back in 2019 when he finished runner-up at the Barcelona Open – but the former US Open champion feels he is moving in the right direction on the surface.

“There are things I’m trying to change. I’m trying to change the directions and have a bit of more topspin, because if you play flat on clay, it doesn’t work, especially against the better players,” he revealed.

“I believe my game was not so bad except that he was more decisive in important moments and he feels when he needs to be aggressive or defensive. This is something I feel well on hard courts and not as well on clay. So I’m not sure I can change that, but I will try. If one day I’m able to become a monster on clay, I’m happy.”

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