Hope that everyone is ready for two weeks of Grand Slam Madness. After the four weeks on European clay starting with Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid and finishing with Rome players are ready to show their best form at the French Open. I must say that even as an avid Rafa Nadal fan, it does not look to promising for Spanish wonder. Djoko has taken Monte Carlo as well and Rome titles and decided to skip Madrid. Although, Rafa did show some signs of his golden years in early rounds of Madrid, in the finals against Murray he played way below his capabilities, mainly due to mental not physical aspect of the game.
Most of the tennis experts are predicting that unless Novak suffers from some injury he will for sure take the crown. Who can even come close to beating him? Perhaps Murray or Federer playing their best tennis can present some real threat. According to men’s draw Djokovic is set to clash with Nadal in quarterfinals (if both win their opening rounds ofcourse). This clash might happen early in the draw due to Rafa being seeded number 6 (ranked 7, but with Raonic missing he is gaining a spot). We cannot forget about Nishikori and Wavrinka, who also displayed some great tennis in Masters 1000 tournaments coming into Roland Garros.
What about WTA stars? The leading tournaments have been quite confusing to spectators, Serena has not performed well in any of them. She lost early in Madrid and decided to withdraw in Rome. Sharapova is a huge favorite by winning Rome, where Sanchez-Navarro has also presented some consistent play in Madrid as well as Rome, reaching the finals and almost beating Maria. On the other hand French Open does have a history of surprise “one-time” winners on the women’s side, so perhaps we can expect unseeded player to take the title.
Meanwhile, hope that everyone is finally getting into their regular tennis routine with the weather getting better. While spending extended hours on the court, I want to remind everyone not to forgo injury prevention program, such as stretching, warming up and cooling down. In the past few months I have had a lot of problems with my lower back, that I am now slowly trying to rehab. With every injury I am again reminded how important it is not to abandon major core strengthening exercises, which will help prevent all sorts of injuries in the future.
In the next blog we will talk more about injury prevention and also about what stretching can you do before and after practices/matches. Until then, enjoy French Open, play a lot of tennis and do not forget to have FUN while doing it.
Photo Credits to Roland Garros Official Website and photographer Viki Szendrei.
