French Open Preview

By Lee | May 23rd, 2007 | 6 Comments »

I am really looking forward to the French Open this year. I do every year but this year just got a little more interesting. Roger Federer was finally able to beat his nemesis on clay Rafael Nadal to capture the Masters Cup tournament in Hamburg, Germany. Federer will try next week to win the French Open for the first time in his career and complete his career grand slam and become only the second man in the Open Era to do so after Andre Agassi and the sixth overall. It would also be his 11th career grand slam putting him just three behind Pete Sampras’ record of 14.

Federer was riding the worst slump of his top ranking by going four tournaments without a title. However, he did win the Aussie Open in January which is of course the first grand slam, so his goal of a single year grand slam is still alive. Nadal on the other hand had his 81 match clay court win streak snapped by Federer and will look to win his third consecutive French Open. He would be the first man to do that since Bjorn Borg won his fourth stright in 1981.

The styles of Federer and Nadal are totally different which makes for interesting TV. Personally I am a Federer fan and hope he completes the slam. I feel that he is without a doubt the best I have ever seen and I hope that he doesn’t have the “he can’t win the French” thing hanging over him like Sampras still has, even though he won 14 grand slams.

With Federer being the 4 and 3 time defending champion of Wimbledon and the US Open respectively, which are coming up later this year. Roger will certainly be the favorite going into those tournaments. If he can somehow overcome the Spaniard Nadal, along with 126 other competitors, then he will cement his place in history as the best ever. It should be interesting and we will see what happens.