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ROLAND GARROS – MEN'S PREVIEW
No clear choice among the men
By Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net
Only a week away from the start of Roland Garros and there is no absolute clear-cut favorite to t
ake the men's title at the only Grand Slam played on clay. Nevertheless, there are a number of names that come up when likely candidates for a victorious run at the French Open are considered – '98 champ Carlos Moya, '99 victor Andre Agassi, '02 finalist Juan-Carlos Ferrero, to mention a few.
At this point in time, Moya would looks to be a strong candidate in the pool, having put together an impressive 21 of 23 match winning streak on the clay this season. That statistic comes along with two titles – at Buenos Aires back in February and Barcelona last month. Moya also proved successful on the hard courts this season, working his way to the NASDAQ-100 Open final in March, where he fell to two-time champ Andre Agassi with barely a whimper.
Nevertheless, Moya has fallen short the past two weeks on the clay and that could place a lot of pressure on the Spaniard's shoulders. He lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a former French Open champion who is quickly falling off the radar, in the third round of Rome two weeks ago. And as the second seed in Hamburg last week, he fell to Spanish teen qualifier Rafael Nadal in the second round.
The recent slump should not really take its toll on Moya if he washes the slate clean and keeps his mind on looking ahead at the possibilities. If Moya was able to pick himself up from a serious back injury that sidelined him for close to a year and caused his ranking to drop from No. 1 to close to 50, forgetting about a couple of bad losses shouldn't be a problem.
Moya possesses an aggressive baseline game and is capable of venturing to the net when necessary – ingredients that worked magically when he won the French Open a few years ago. There shouldn't be a player in the field that Moya isn't comfortable against so he should be feeling confident upon arrival at Roland Garros.
andre agassi
As for No. 2 Andre Agassi, at 33-years-old he is the dominant force in the game. But his clay court season has not been all that fabulous. He played poorly, but managed to capture the Houston title on red clay that is imported from Europe to create authenticity. His Italian Open ended abruptly in the first round to David Ferrer in three sets and then he pulled out of last week's Tennis Masters Series-Hamburg event.
But these recent results shouldn't fool anyone. Agassi, who won his eighth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, is without a doubt the best player on tour right now. He can go into the French and brush aside the Ferrero loss without giving it much thought and get about the business of winning. And it pays to make note that in 1999, Agassi did not win one clay court event before taking hold of the Roland Garros trophy.
Agassi is the epitome of the perfect physical specimen in the game, however, the fact that he is 33-years-old cannot be dismissed. He needs events to go according to schedule – a match every other day – to keep his recovery time between outings at maximum level. If things do fall in place, Agassi could be looking at a second Grand Slam trophy of the year and a lot of tongues wagging as to whether he can go the distance and win the coveted Grand Slam.
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero, last year's French Open finalist, is also looking like a strong presence for the French this year. He heads into the tournament with two clay court titles – at the Tennis Masters Series-Monte Carlo and Valencia – which means his game is in tiptop shape and his head should be on straight. The problem is that Ferrero tends to prove shaky in the mental department; remember how he handled being the favorite in last year's French Open final against victor Albert Costa? If Ferrero can't control his emotions, he's going to have a hard time parlaying his talents into a title at Roland Garros – quite a shame since there's no question he should do the deed at this event at some time in his career.
the pretenders
Other names to watch are three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, who has not been as formidable a factor as he was before hip surgery last year, but very capable of turning in a winning performance. Defending champion Costa has had a very disappointing clay court season, but he came in almost disregarded at last year's event and walked away the champion. Swiss Roger Federer is a player waiting in the wings for greatness and posted a good clay court season, winning the trophy at Munich and as a finalist to Felix Mantilla in Rome two weeks ago. Certainly, the bumper crop of Argentineans on tour could do some damage at Roland Garros, with special attention towards Hamburg victor Guillermo Coria and 2002 Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian. And, of course, it would be hard to discount No. 2 ranked Lleyton Hewitt who can make a feisty showing at any tournament even if the surface would not be considered his favorite.
The one thing that can always be counted on at Roland Garros is a busy first few days at the tournament that is likely to end with a few surprising upsets. And then as the field dwindles down, the interesting occurrences as the remaining players attempt to handle the most demanding of surfaces on tour to try and grab the trophy.
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