Tennis legends Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will meet in a thrilling Roland-Garros quarterfinal on Tuesday, May 31, in a battle worthy of the French Open championship.
Despite winning 13 French Open titles and only losing three times in his career, Nadal will enter the match as a favorite.
After missing the Australian Open, world No. 1 Djokovic has been steadily improving his game, and will be looking to win his 21st Grand Slam title and catch Nadal, who will be eager to jump two steps ahead of the Serbian.
After an interrupted start to the year following his deportation prior to the Australian Open, Djokovic has been slowly gathering results and form ahead of an assault on the French Open and Wimbledon.
His clay-court form has progressively improved since his first tournament on the surface in 2022, which saw him go down Andrey Rublev in the final of his home event in Belgrade in April.
In May, he made the semi-finals of the Madrid Masters with in-form teenager Carlos Alcaraz eliminating him in three close sets which featured two tiebreakers.
And at the final tournament before Roland-Garros, the Rome Masters, Djokovic won the title without conceding a set, defeating the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Stan Wawrinka.
Djokovic has continued on at the French Open, winning every set he has played in so far, including two impressive victories against experienced clay-courter Diego Schwartzman and in-form Alex Molcan.
Despite winning the Australian Open in January, Nadal began the French Open as the third favourite to win behind Djokovic and Alcaraz.
Following his French Open final loss to Djokovic, the world No. 5 had most of his 2021 wiped out by a foot ailment.
While he appeared to have recovered from that injury during his Australian Open victory, Nadal struggled with a foot problem in the weeks leading up to the French Open, coming close to losing to David Goffin at the Madrid Masters before being bundled out by Alcaraz in the quarterfinals and then being eliminated by Denis Shapovalov in the round of 16 at the Rome Masters.
During the first three rounds of the French Open, Nadal’s fitness was undeniable, as he won all three of his matches in straight sets before defeating promising Canadian Auger-Aliassime in five sets in the fourth round.
Djokovic leads Nadal has a slight 30-28 margin in their 58 career meetings as they prepare to face off in the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2022.
Only two players have ever defeated Nadal in Roland-Garros: Robin Soderling and Novak Djokovic, who did so twice in the quarterfinals in 2015 and the semifinals in 2021.
At the French Open, Nadal has beaten Djokovic seven times, with three of those victories coming in the final.
It’s difficult to pick against Rafael Nadal in Paris, but Novak Djokovic is the only player who has played at Roland-Garros before.
Nadal appears to be travelling better than critics predicted before the French Open, although he struggled against Auger-Aliassime, despite winning in the end.
Djokovic has been generally untroubled so far in his four encounters, though he did lose an early break in the second set to Schwartzman before sweeping to an easy victory.
It won’t be a straight-sets match, but Djokovic will stop Nadal’s quest for a 22nd Grand Slam and give himself a chance to tie him for most majors in a career.
Djokovic will win in four sets, according to my prediction.
