Who are the players looking to spoil Rafael Nadal’s French Open last dance?

Rafael Nadal is set to play the French Open for the final time before his retirement – and there are plenty of stars looking to spoil his last dance.

It’s an absolute blockbuster year at Roland-Garros, the second Grand Slam event of the the year, which gets underway on the famous red dirt in Paris on Sunday.

All eyes will be on Nadal, the ‘King of Clay’, given his incredible success at the major tournament – but the 37-year-old is far from being among the favourites – and he has been handed a nightmare first-round match against the fourth seed.

There are a number of players looking to take his crown such as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, while Novak Djokovic is attempting to make even more history.

There are other interesting storylines to look out for, too, with Andy Murray in action and some stars looking to seal Olympic qualification.

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Nadal bids farewell to Roland-Garros

Rafael Nadal and the French Open are a match made in heaven. His dominance at the clay-court Grand Slam is remarkable, with an incredible 14 men’s singles titles.

Four of those titles came without the Spaniard dropping a set, most recently in 2020. Only a fool would totally write off Nadal’s chances of a fairytale finish.

That being said, it seems unlikely he will go all the way this time. Nadal has only played three tournaments since his latest injury comeback… with mixed results.

Nadal hurt himself at the Brisbane International in January and would not return until the Barcelona Open in April.

He won his first match in Barcelona – but crashed out in the next round – although he performed much better in Madrid, winning three matches to reach the last 16.

That run of three wins in the Spanish capital included an impressive victory over world No.11 Alex De Minaur, the boyfriend of British No.1 Katie Boulter.

Nadal would only go as far as the last 16, though, losing to Jiri Lehecka before a poor run at the Italian Open, with the veteran dumped out in the second round.

Sky Bet were offering odds at 12/1 of Nadal winning the French Open this year, which then became 22/1 after the first-round draw was made.

Djokovic aims to cement his GOAT status

Novak Djokovic has arguably already put himself above Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as the greatest tennis player of all time.

His triumph at the US Open last year means he now holds the most major singles titles of any male or female player in the Open Era with 24.

Djokovic can further cement that status if he makes it 25, which would see him move past Margaret Court for the most in the entire history of tennis.

Djokovic, though, has interestingly endured a tough year. He hasn’t won a single title in 2024 yet, which seems ridiculous given his usual dominance.

He split with his coach Goran Ivanisevic and suffered one of the most embarrassing defeats of his whole career at Indian Wells.

Djokovic recently played the Italian Open, losing in the round of 32 in his fastest defeat on clay, with the Serbian booed off and hit by a water bottle.

But after all, this is still Djokovic. Like Nadal, you’d have to be extremely brave to write off his chances of defending his Roland-Garros title.

Alcaraz and Sinner hungry for major titles

Sky Bet currently sees Carlos Alcaraz as the No.1 favourite for this year’s French Open title, with odds of 5/2.

The young Spaniard is widely tipped to become the new dominant force in tennis following the ‘Big Three’ era and he already has two major titles under his belt.

Alcaraz first tasted Grand Slam glory at the 2022 US Open and followed it up with the Wimbledon title last year. He’s done it on hard courts. He’s done it on grass. Now he just needs to do it on clay.

But he’s not the only young star aiming for more major titles. Jannik Sinner won the first of his career at the Australian Open in January and will be desperate to match Alcaraz on two.

Both men have been shaking off minor injury issues, though, which could open the door for the likes of Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

French Open is Murray’s Olympic warm-up

Even the biggest Andy Murray fans in the world would acknowledge that the British hero has little to no chance of winning the French Open. After all, he’s only just come back from a horror ankle injury and his clay record isn’t the best.

But that’s not important. He’s not there to win the title. He’s there to prepare for the upcoming Olympic Games this summer, which could be his final event before retirement.

Rankings at the end of this year’s French Open will determine which players qualify for the Games in July. Anyone in the top 70 has a good chance of featuring, with Murray currently at No.75.

His ranking may not actually matter due to the fact that Murray is eligible for one of the two International Tennis Federation spots – which are reserved for former Grand Slam champions and Olympic gold medallists – which he’s likely to get.

Is there anyone who can stop Swiatek?

In the women’s singles, world No.1 Iga Swiatek is the heavy favourite to clinch the Roland-Garros title.

The Polish superstar has been crowned French Open champion in three of the past four years and has a 93 per cent winning record at the tournament, winning 28 matches and losing just two.

Swiatek is in hot form, too, having just beaten world No.3 Coco Gauff and world No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in Rome to secure the Italian Open trophy.

Sabalenka and Gauff will of course be looking for revenge in Paris but it seems inevitable that Swiatek will once again be walking away with the title.

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