With the French Open’s official commencement just around the corner, excitement is building around the latest Grand Slam.
The second opportunity to secure ultimate glory this year, naturally Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are expected to be right up there.
After all, the former is the defending champion, and comes into the event having just won the Italian Open.
Ironically for the latter, despite being the world number one, he will take on an underdog stance given this marks just his second tournament back from his ban.
These are the top two players in the world, so predicting their success should not surprise anyone. However, they are far from unbeatable, leaving the door just slightly ajar for some of the other competitors.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz expected to compete for Roland Garros title
However, all focus remains on Alcaraz and Sinner.
After all, given the Spaniard’s performance in Rome, he has moved back up to second in the world rankings, thus placing him on the opposite side of the draw to his generational rival.
Therefore, things are perfectly poised for the two to meet in the final and compete for one of the biggest prizes tennis has to offer.
Sinner offered an injury update ahead of the tournament which might worry some, but he proved his fitness remains at a passable level during his run to the Italian Open final last week.
Jack Draper and Alexander Zverev among other contenders for French Open
These aforementioned other competitors do come in the form of fellow top-ten players, so again expecting them to compete is no shock prediction.
However, what’s most interesting about this trio is that they are not really being considered as true contenders because of just how dominant Sinner and Alcaraz are expected to be.
For Alexander Zverev, he was a finalist at this event just last year, and has made at least the semi-finals in the last four years running here. To discount him would be foolish, even if his preparation in the run-up has been less than ideal with faltering runs in Hamburg, Madrid and Rome.
Jack Draper, conversely, has enjoyed a strong run of form ahead of the French Open, stunning many with how well he has taken to clay-court tennis.
Although he has never surpassed the first round in the past, reaching the final of the Madrid Open whilst also competing well with Alcaraz in Rome shows good signs for the Brit, who is up to a personal best of fifth in the world rankings.
He will be hoping to challenge the top two players in the world, alongside Casper Ruud, who actually beat him in that Madrid final earlier this month.
Breaking his duck to finally win a Masters 1000 event, the Norwegian is a two-time finalist at Roland Garros and a clear lover of clay.
He has been accused of lacking that killer instinct to claim the elite titles in the past, but having already made one huge step this year, there’s no reason that he cannot do it again in a Grand Slam.
All three of these have very serious claims to the crown in Paris, and will be hoping to upset the odds by toppling Alcaraz and Sinner when the time comes.
