JAKARTA - The French Open 2023 tournament will resume at Roland Garros starting this week. However, there is something different.
This legendary tennis tournament is entering a new era in the men's singles sector. The reason is, defending champion Rafael Nadal will be absent.
Nadal, who has not missed Paris since his debut win in 2005, will miss this year's French Open for not recovering from a waist injury he picked up while appearing at the Australian Open in January.
The holder of 14 titles at Roland Garros recently issued a statement that 2024 may be his last year on an ATP tour.
This year's French Open will also be the first time since 1998 without the presence of retired Nadal or Roger Federer.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic is still far from his top form. Djokovic, who is responsible for two of Nadal's three defeats in 115 matches in the tournament, will usually appear as the favorite champion.
However, the holder of the two trophies of Roland Garros was disturbed by a recurrence of a right elbow injury that affected his appearance in the clay tournament season. The Serbian failed to make it past the last eight in one of the three matches in clay he played this spring.
He also lost the world number one status which is now held by Carlos Alcaraz and will arrive in Paris as third in the world after Daniil Medvedev, who just won the Italian Open last weekend.
"I know I can play better," Djokovic said as quoted by AFP via Antara, Wednesday, May 25.
"Obviously I will fix various aspects of my game, my body, I hope I can get 100 percent fit. That's the goal," Djokovic said after being defeated by Holger Rune in the quarter-finals in Rome.
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When Nadal won his first French Open title in 2005, Spanish compatriot Carlos Alcaraz was two years old.
Eight years later, Alcaraz was the world number one and defending champion of the US Open.
MISSing Monte Carlo Masters due to a spinal cord injury, Alcaraz couldn't stop snatching clay titles at Barcelona and Madrid before being tackled by players ranked 135 Fabian Marozsan in the last 32 in Rome which was cold and often rainy.
"I really need a few days to reset my mind a little bit, to be clear for Roland Garros," said Alcaraz, who will be the first seed in the Slam tournament for the first time.
Alcaraz reached the quarter-finals last year, as was Holger Rune who arrived in Paris with the highest achievement as ranked sixth in the world.
Rune brought home the clay trophy in Munich this spring and came out as runner-up in Monte Carlo and Roma, after losing to Medvedev.
In 1983, Yannick Noah won the French Open, surprising defending champion Mats Wilander with two straight sets in the final. To date, Noah is the only French to win a Slam title in his hometown.
Meanwhile, the last French player to reach the men's singles final at Roland Garros was Henri Leconte 35 years ago.
Gael Monfils had a chance to make it to the 2008 final before it was stopped in the semifinals, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the last four in 2013 and 2015.
This year, the top-ranked host in Paris is Ugo Humbert, ranked 38th in the world.
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