Tennis fans are up for a treat as perhaps in a cruel twist of fate the big three icons of men’s tennis- Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer- have ended up in the same half of the French Open men's draw on Thursday. (More Sports News)
This only means heartbreak for two with only one having realistic chance of making it to the final.
While Federer and Nadal head into Roland Garros are tied at 20 grand slam titles, while Djokovic has won 18.
Nadal has been colossal at Roland Garros winning 13 French Open titles. He has reigning champion since 2017 with five successive titles in 2010 to 2014.
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In 2020 final Nadal beat Djokovic in straight sets for his record-extending 13th championship on the red clay of Paris. Nadal is ranked and seeded No. 3 now and so he could have wound up on either side of the bracket; as luck would have it, he was placed in No. 1 Djokovic's half.
Federer, whose record for most weeks atop the ATP rankings recently was broken by Djokovic and is currently at No. 8.
Other title contenders include No. 7 Andrey Rublev, No 2 Daniil Medvedev , No 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev.
Medvedev is a two-time Grand Slam finalist but is 0-4 for his French Open career. Thiem won last year's US Open and twice has been the runner-up in Paris.
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The big three - Nadal, Federer and Djokovic- have been dominating force in Grand Slams since 2005.
— 15 of the past 16 Grand Slam tournaments were won by the big three;
— starting with the 2005 French Open, they collected 54 of the past 63 major titles;
— in that same span, 23 Slam finals involved one of these matchups: Djokovic vs. Nadal, Djokovic vs. Federer, or Nadal vs. Federer.
The women’s draw will see Serena Williams chasing history. She has won three of her professional-era record 23 Grand Slam titles in Paris, is in a quarter of the women's draw filled with familiar faces.
That includes possible matchups with three-time major champion Angelique Kerber in the third round, two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova in the fourth and either two-time Australian Open champ Victoria Azarenka or No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals.
The other possible women's contender is world No 1 Ash Barty who faces No 5 Elina Svitolina, while No 4 Sofia Kenin will face No 8 Iga Swiatek in what would be a rematch of the 2020 final won by Swiatek. World No 2 Naomi Osaka and No 6 Bianca Andreesscu also are formidable challengers. Nadal and Swiatek are the favorites to win the singles titles, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. (With inputs from AP)
Check out all the draws here.
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Tournament telecast and live streaming details
Tournament: French Open Tennis Tournamnet 2021
Venue: Roland Garros Stadium
Dates: May 30 to June 13
Timings: 2:30PM IST onwards
Telecast and live streaming: In India, the matches will be telecast on Star Sports network and Disney+ Hotstar platform
You can check out the worldwide telecast details here.
