Roland Garros: Looking Ahead at the Next Two Weeks

With the French Open now less than 24 hours away, all eyes of the tennis world for the next fortnight, will be on Roland Garros.

As is the case with every Grand Slam, every year; this one promises to be exciting and eventful and in the case of some players, it may also be history making.

As has been the case for the last two to three years now, the big question at Roland Garros this year, once again will be—Can Roger Federer win the elusive French Open? He has come tantalisingly close to winning the only Grand Slam missing from his collection on the past three occasions, only to fall at the final hurdle to Nadal.

This year he has the opportunity not only to win the Open and complete a Career Grand Slam, but also to equal Sampras' record haul of 14 titles. Needless to say he is one of the players who stands to gain the most from a win here.

Standing firmly in the way of Roger Federer and the history books yet again is Rafael Nadal.

Nadal comes into the French Open for the first time seeded and ranked as No. 1, a title he justly deserves and more so here than anyplace else. This year he is gunning for a record fifth successive victory on the Parisian dirt, where he won his first Grand Slam title.

While few would bet against Nadal getting his fifth title here in five years, the very fact that he is expected to win this one again and that he is now the World No. 1, with the bulls eye on his back so to speak; might add a bit more pressure to his title defence this year.

Having said that, no one can soak up pressure like Rafa can and it will be interesting to see if anyone can break his winning streak at Roland Garros.

The other main guy to look out for is Novak Djokovic. In spite of having lost his No. 3 ranking to Andy Murray earlier this month, he seems to be playing some of the best tennis we have seen from him.

He is also the only player to have constantly troubled Rafa on clay throughout the clay court season this year. And while Roger Federer is the only one who can boast of a win over Nadal on clay this year, Djokovic will definitely fancy his chances.

The women's draw, in comparison, is more unpredictable as we have seen in the past few years.

All eyes though will be on the new World No. 1, Dinara Safina; to see if she can live up to her No. 1 ranking and win her maiden Grand Slam here.

Shes had a very promising clay court season so far and would surely be one of the favourites to take the crown this year.

The other women to watch out for would be Serena and Venus Williams. While they have not really made much of an impression at this tournament since Serena won it years ago, they are always a threat at any major tournament and it would be unwise to count them out.

Maria Sharapova, is making her comeback here after a nine-month injury layoff. This is not her best surface though and she would have done well if she makes it to the second week of the slam.

Last years champion Anna Ivanovic is seeded down in eighth and almost unheard of in the majors since her win here last year. She would desperately love to repeat her last year's success here and erase the mounting doubts that have piled on her since she won here last year. Given her lack of form and match play though, it seems a tough ask.

Either way, it promises to be a fascinating French Open with some interesting tennis lined up. Who will walk away as the big winners remains to be seen.

Bring on the dirt!