Early Grades for Top Stars at 2015 French Open
With the majority of the top tennis stars still in contention at the 2015 French Open, their early grades make for pleasant reading.
The tournament is crucial for Rafael Nadal, who can silence the doubters by sealing a 10th title at Roland Garros.
Maria Sharapova has also come through unscathed, despite illness, as she attempts to defend her title.
Roger Federer is in action against Gael Monfils at the time of writing, so his tournament has not been analysed in this slideshow. However, his performances so far, including wins over Marcel Granollers and Alejandro Falla, have been exemplary.
The following slides will analyse the top performers from both the men's and women's tournaments.
Andy Murray
1 of 5
Contrasting styles collided in Andy Murray's encounter with Nick Kyrgios on Saturday.
Murray's muted outfit and deliberate play collided with Kyrgios' loud shirt and flamboyancy. The Australian's star appeal can't be doubted.
But like all stars, burnout is a constant danger. Kyrgios won't be doing that any time soon, but his demeanour on court began to frazzle on the Paris clay as Murray showed him his winning hand.
The world No. 3 was never troubled and won comfortably in three sets. His composure and poise on clay these days is quite remarkable.
His impressive wins so far at Roland Garros coupled with a lack of fear make Murray a dangerous man going into the second week.
Simon Briggs wrote for the Telegraph that Murray is one of the few top players "to have avoided spiralling down the Kyrgios plughole."
Right now everything is spiralling in one direction. It's a current being dictated by Murray and only Novak Djokovic may be able to fight it.
Grade: A-
Serena Williams
2 of 5
A spanner was momentarily in the works on Saturday.
When Victoria Azarenka took the first set against Serena Williams 3-6, anyone with half an eye on the match suddenly devoted themselves to it entirely.
However, the nuts and bolts of Serena Williams are so well tightened, the proverbial spanner wielded by Azarenka was too limp to take down the world No. 1.
The American responded with verve. She clawed out sets of 6-4 and 6-2 to maintain her push for a 20th Slam.
It's worth noting that Williams also lost the first set to Anna-Lena Friedsam in the second round. Again she battled back to win, but her next opponent, Sloane Stephens, who famously beat Williams in the 2013 Australian Open, may smell blood.
Grade: B
Novak Djokovic
3 of 5
Not for the first time this year, Novak Djokovic's opponents have failed to hit the target on his back. With each win it gets smaller and smaller.
It was little surprise to the natives that Djokovic breezed through the first two rounds, beating Jarkko Nieminen and Gilles Muller without dropping a set.
He showed a rare moment of mortality when receiving treatment on his back in the win over Muller. However, it was just a case of Superman adjusting his cape rather than watching it fly off his shoulders.
The latest new kid on the block, Thanasi Kokkinakis, gave the world No. 1 a taste of the young blood on tour. Unfortunately for the Australian, it's one flavour among many Djokovic has encountered and negotiated before.
As expected, the fourth round awaits and with it a growing belief that Djokovic will complete his Grand Slam haul on Parisian clay.
Grade: A-
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Maria Sharapova
4 of 5
Who knows what Maria Sharapova is thinking right now.
She doesn't come across as the type of character to be laid back about defending her French Open title. For her to be as horizontal as the stripes on her third-round shirt would be to contradict what we know about her.
There is a steely will to win that keeps Sharapova forever focused, not daring to let her guard down.
Jim Caple wrote for ESPN that she looked "a little more emotional than usual" after beating Samantha Stosur on Friday.
As Sharapova explained, her illness last week made her even more zoned in on what is required to retain a Grand Slam title for the first time in her career.
A fourth-round date with Lucie Safarova will give Sharapova food for thought. She last beat the Czech on clay in Stuttgart last year, with all three sets going to tie-breaks.
These are, of course, the sort of challenges she must overcome to keep the title close.
Grade: A-
Rafael Nadal
5 of 5
Two certainties have been established within men's tennis.
The first is that Novak Djokovic will easily fend off opponents and the rare occasions his body drops below his levels. The other is that Rafael Nadal will win the French Open. Almost all of the rest is up for debate.
However, it is now too early to say with great confidence whether Rafael Nadal's home away from home will again ensure equilibrium in tennis. Before, it was a formality.
There was little fuss about his victories over Frenchman Quentin Halys, Nicolas Almagro and Andrey Kuznetsov. Determining his location within the tennis stratosphere cannot be done until the real hurdles are approached.
Martyn Herman, writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, believes the "old fizz definitely seems to have returned to the champion's groundstrokes."
Nadal will have to manage his well-documented nerves in order to keep the fizz in his game from going flat.
Grade: A-
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