Nadal, Federer in way of Djokovic’s quest for second ‘Djoker’ slam
With the win in this year’s French Open, Novak Djokovic can become the only man in the open era to hold all 4 Grand Slams for the second time in his career. A feat which has not been achieved even by his contemporaneous Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
With the return of veteran Roger Federer in the tournament and Rafael Nadal finding his rhythm on clay, the path of Djokovic, who is in first place in the world rankings, will not be so easy.
The tournament qualifier will be played from May 20 whereas the main matches will start on May 26.
Djokovic held all 4 slams simultaneously in 2016. After winning Wimbledon and US Open in 2018, he won his seventh Australian Open title in January this year and by winning the French Open this year could complete the ‘Djoker’ slam.
Djokovic has won 15 Gandslam titles so far, in this case Federer and Nadal are ahead of them with 20 and 17 titles, respectively. Both of these players have also completed the Career Slam but are not successful in winning all four titles at one go.
Prior to Djokovic in the history of tennis, only Don Budge (1938) and Rad Laver (1962 and 1969) were the winners of all four titles together.
Serbia’s Djokovic was defeated by Nadal at the Italian Open last week, and this Spanish player would want to win his 12th title in Rolland Garros. Nadal, who won the French Open for the record 11th time, gave the indication of being in the rhythm by becoming an Italian Open champion for the ninth time on Sunday.
Federer will play in this tournament for the first time since 2015. If he wins this title at the age of 37, then he will be the oldest winner of the French Open.
Besides Djokovic and Federer, fourth-ranked Dominic Thiem in world rankings and Stephanos Tsitsipas of Greece, occupying sixth, will also be the favorites to win. The performance of Alexander Zverev of Germany, which is seen as the next big player of this game, will also be seen by everyone.
