French Open Order of Play and Some Comments

Written by: Staff on 26th May 2012

French Open Order of Play and Some Comments |

French open Order of Play: Click Here

At least the draw gods were fair. David Ferrer, who probably ought to be the #4 seed at a clay slam, is in the same quarter as Andy Murray, who has the actual #4 seed.

On the other hand, Roger Federer is in Novak Djokovic’s half, which will make it that much harder for us to figure out who “should” be #2. That of course puts Murray in Nadal’s half. Our potential quarterfinals are Djokovic versus #5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (who is of course the top French player but whose game is best suited for faster surfaces). Federer’s quarterfinal opponent would be his frequent nemesis, #7 Tomas Berdych. Murray of course would face Ferrer; Nadal’s quarterfinal opponent would be #8 Janko Tipsarevic.

To get to the quarterfinal, Djokovic’s route passes through Potito Starace in the first round (still a threat on clay, if nowhere else), #30 Jurgen Melzer in the third, and #14 Fernando Verdasco or #22 Andreas Seppi in the fourth. Nikolay Davydenko is also in that part of the draw — he opens against Seppi — but Davydenko really doesn’t seem a threat right now.

Tsonga’s first seeded opponent would be #30 Viktor Troicki (who, however, opens against Thomaz Bellucci). Then would come #11 Gilles Simon or #18 Stanislas Wawrinka — both of whom like clay a lot better than Tsonga; if the Frenchman makes it that far, an upset seems not unlikely.

Federer could face David Nalbandian in the second round, but as a partial offset, he faces #26 Andy Roddick in the third, and Roddick is out of form and dislikes clay anyway. In the fourth, Federer would face #15 Feliciano Lopez (another guy who isn’t too fond of clay) or #23 Radek Stepanek (tired after Dusseldorf).

The first seed Berdych would face would be #31 Kevin Anderson, who probably isn’t a threat on clay — but then comes #9 Juan Martin del Potro or #21 Marin Cilic. That part looks tough. It’s tough for Del Potro and Cilic, too; the former opens against Albert Montanes; the latter faces Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round.

The same fate that put David Ferrer in Andy Murray’s quarter also stuck the Spaniard with facing Albert Ramos in the second round, so the draw really was a mixed bag for him. In the third, he would face #27 Mikhail Youzhny. Potential fourth round opponents are #10 John Isner (probably not a threat to Ferrer on this surface) and #20 Marcel Granollers (who might be).

Andy Murray is drawn to face Jarkko Nieminen in the second round, #25 Bernard Tomic in the third, then #16 Alexandr Dolgopolov or #17 Richard Gasquet. A tough draw for a guy with a back problem and a clay problem both!

Julien Benneteau wasn’t expected to play, but has has taken the #29 seed and will try. He would be the first seed to face Tipsarevic. The fourth round is likely to be tougher for Tipsarevic; the seeds are #12 Nicolas Almagro and #24 Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Juan Ignacio Chela is also in that part of the draw.

Defending champion Nadal’s first three rounds are easy: #32 Florian Mayer would be the first seed he would face. It gets trickier in the fourth, when he might face #13 Juan Monaco or #19 Milos Raonic.