PARIS, 23 May 2005 — Roger Federer has shrugged off the hovering menace of Rafael Nadal to insist he has his greatest opportunity to win an elusive French Open crown when the second Grand Slam tournament of the season starts here today.
The 23-year-old world No. 1 has a mediocre record on the Roland Garros clay courts. In six visits, he has never got beyond the quarterfinals and has lost in the first round three times.
Last year, his hopes ended in the third round where the banana skin draw of triple champion Gustavo Kuerten turned out to be a booby-trap as the Brazilian cruised to victory in straight sets. Twelve months on, top-seed Federer is favorite again and has been handed a gentle draw before a potential semifinal clash with the 18-year-old Nadal.
Federer is still taking sensible precautions hiring the 1966 champion Tony Roche as coach in an effort to maximize his chances.
Nadal is not the only threat to Federer from becoming just the sixth man ever to win all four Grand Slam tournaments.
Other dangers include defending champion Gaston Gaudio, 2004 runner-up Guillermo Coria as well as world No. 2 Andy Roddick and evergreen former champion Andre Agassi.
One potential obstacle was removed when former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt was forced out of the tournament with a rib injury.
But Richard Gasquet and Marat Safin, the only two men who have beaten Federer this year, cannot be discounted from upsetting the Swiss who, nevertheless, warmed up for Paris by defending his Hamburg Masters title last week without dropping a set.
It also stretched his record to 19 successive winning finals. Eighteen-year-old Nadal is the most dangerous rival here with the muscular Spaniard having clinched five titles this season including back-to-back Masters on clay in Monte Carlo and Rome, beating Coria on both occasions. French teenager Gasquet could also thrive but he has been placed in the same section of the draw as Nadal with the two set to clash in the third round.
Mauresmo Seeks Noah’s Magic
Amelie Mauresmo has tried to play down the Yannick Noah effect as she sets her sights on breaking her Roland Garros jinx at the French Open.
Mauresmo, who briefly rose to world No. 1 late last year, has been touted as a potential winner here since she burst on to the scene at the Australian Open in 1999.
But year after year she has failed to deliver, let down by a fragile temperament that has buckled under the weight of expectations.
Thus Noah, the hugely-popular winner of the 1983 men’s singles title, has been brought in to sit down with Mauresmo and basically “get her head straight.”
Now known more for his reggae-inspired rock concerts than his tennis skills, the dreadlocked Noah is seen as a master motivator, but Mauresmo insists that there is no quick fix to her shortcomings here. “There is no magic wand,” said Mauresmo, who is seeded three and has a first round date against Australia’s Evie Dominikovic. The Mauresmo enigma is just one of many imponderables in what is gearing up to be one of the most open women’s tournaments for years at Roland Garros although the draw was stripped of one potential winner when 2003 champion Serena Williams pulled out with an ankle injury.
Belgian pair Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters, both of whom have clawed their way back from debilitating injuries in spectacular fashion this year, cannot be ruled out.
Indeed Henin-Hardenne, winner here in 2003, has won her last three tournaments — all on clay — at Charleston, Warsaw and Berlin.
