‘Rafael Nadal is certainly a French Open favourite if he gets clean bill of health’, says former world No 1

Ewan West
Rafael Nadal close up Barcelona Open 2024
Rafael Nadal looks on during a match

Andy Roddick believes Rafael Nadal will be one of the favourites to win the 2024 French Open “if he gets matches in and a clean bill of health.”

The former US Open champion shared his concern, though, that any injury for Nadal at this stage could be the injury that ends the great Spaniard’s career.

Nadal made his long-awaited comeback at the 2024 Barcelona Open this week, having not competed since Brisbane in January due to injury problems.

The former world No 1 made his return in Brisbane from almost a year out after he sustained a hip injury at the 2023 Australian Open that required surgery and forced him to miss the rest of last season.

The 12-time Barcelona champion defeated Flavio Cobolli in his opening match at the ATP 500 tournament, before falling to world No 11 Alex de Minaur in the second round.

Before his win over Cobolli, Nadal had not played a match on clay since beating Casper Ruud in the 2022 French Open final to claim his 14th title at Roland Garros 681 days earlier. The 37-year-old holds a remarkable 112-3 record at the French Open.

READ MORE: ‘Rafael Nadal should be a top 16 seed at the French Open’, argues ATP star

Speaking on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Roddick backed Nadal to be among the leading contenders at Roland Garros if he gets the right preparation.

“I will be watching and hoping that at any point nothing goes wrong. Any injury from here on out could be the last injury,” said the former world No 1.

“I still feel if he gets matches in and if he gets a clean bill of health for two or three events going into Roland Garros, [he is] certainly one of the favourites.”

Roddick also highlighted the possibility that Nadal and his great rival, Novak Djokovic, could face off in the opening round in Paris — given the Mallorcan will almost certainly be unseeded.

“Also, something that’s not talked about enough right now, he goes in [to the French Open] unseeded. We could potentially have a Rafa-Novak first round,” he continued.

“I could tell you if I was one of the top seeds, who I would not wanna play first round, if he’s just floating in the draw, is a guy who’s won that event 14 times.”

READ MORE: The 28 times Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have played on clay