French Open 2012: Under-the-Radar Storylines Headed into Roland Garros

As we near the conclusion of one of the most remarkable clay court seasons to date, it is imperative that we look into the most important questions and storylines regarding the 2012 French Open.

Although many Top-20 players, such as Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco and Janko Tipsarevic, enjoyed stellar results on the dirt, the primary focus of the media and of the tennis world is on the Big Four.

This brings us to our first major question: Will Andy Murray be Ready for the Major in Paris?

Enduring one of his worst clay seasons to date, the Scot is not only in a slump with his physical play, but with his own body.

Citing a nagging back injury, he has either skipped events or lost within the first two rounds of play. Whether or not he is exaggerating the health concern is unclear, but he is definitely performing at a sub-par level.

He made the semifinals for the very first time in his career last year, and followed that up by losing to Rafael Nadal in three very tight, well-fought sets.

Perhaps Andy will show up to the party just in time next week, but it is doubtful to imagine him replicating his result from the prior year and retaining his semifinals points. Interestingly enough, this would mark one of the few times in the past couple of years that at least one member of the Big Four did not reach the Final Four position in a Major draw.

Will Novak Djokovic Win the Novak Slam and his First French Open (let alone his first clay title of the year)?

Nole hasn't been playing his best or his worst tennis the past few weeks. Rather, he has been average given his remarkable year of 2011.

He has now lost twice in a row to Rafa and has yet to take a set from his Spanish rival.

Although he recently took out a sub-par Roger Federer (though Nole was sub-par himself in the strange encounter), it seems that his back-to-back double feat of beating the Swiss and the Spaniard days are over.

Look for him to potentially crash out in the semifinals, but should he make it to the final for the first time, he will seal the deal in a one-sided encounter.

Who is playing the best tennis currently? Roger, Rafa, or Novak?

Roger and Rafa have been going back and forth winning titles this year while Novak has only claimed one (wherein he did not have to face either of the two players).

Roger has been the best on the fast courts and the courts with bad bounces; Rafa has dominated the slow, red clay courts; and Novak has been in-between.

Federer's only chance to win the French Open this year is to rely on his big first serve (which was absent in his loss against Djokovic at the Italian Open in Rome) and work on hitting bigger shots off his backhand wing, where he struggles to find winners and constantly finds himself making unforced errors. We all know his forehand does the damage, but perhaps that damage alone may not be great enough.

It seems as though Roger is the best bet to beat Rafa, even after all of these years of losing, but we still cannot count on it to happen.

Novak may win the Novak Slam, but he is not currently playing well enough to take on two Top-Four players in a row.

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