French Open 2011 Men’s Draw

French Open 2011
By Hiland Doolittle, May 20th, 2011

French Open 2011 Men’s draw is out, Rafa Nadal is seeded first. Novak Djokovic is seeded second. Roger Federer is seeded third. But, the best draw favors the fourth seeded Scotsman, Andy Murray.

All eyes will be on Novak Djokovic and his 37-0 2011 winning streak that includes 7 titles and two consecutive clay court wins over Nadal.

Novak Djokovic Is Favourite To Win French Open 2011

Novak Djokovic Is Favourite To Win French Open 2011

Djokovic has the ATP’s top spot within reach and now trails Nadal by just 400 points.

Before we get to the possible finals, there is work to do. This tournament will start fast for Rafa. Somehow he drew American John Isner in the first round. The 6’ 9” Isner is not as effective on clay and is not in form but his serve always makes him a threat.

Fifth seed Robin Soderling is at the bottom of the Nadal bracket. It is likely that Nadal will also encounter Nikolay Davydenko in the third round and bitter rival Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round. Wow! If Rafa is to claim his sixth French Open and repeat as Champion, he will be earning his stripes every step of the way.

Murray heads up the lower half of page one and looks to have the edge. His quarterfinal match should be against the Austrian Jurgen Melzer (8). Murray showed new concentration and had Djokovic on the ropes last week as he unsuccessfully served for the match.

Murray’s toughest match might come against Canadian Milos Raonic in round three. Victor Troicki (15), Nicolas Almagro (11) and Florian Mayer (20) are in this bracket along with South African Kevin Anderson (32) who should meet Melzer in round three.

Djokovic may be the hottest player on the tour but his path to the finals is filled with potential potholes. He will meet veteran Thiemo De Bakker in round one and either Ivo Karlovic or Juan Martin DelPotro in the third round. That match will feature two big games. DelPotro has been on the mend but has made big strides recently. Juan Martin may well be Djoko’s sternest test on page two.

Sixth seeded Tomas Berdych is projected to emerge from a bracket, which includes Tommy Haas, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Marin Cilic (19) and Mikkhail Youzhny (12). There is no coasting through this bracket.

Third seeded Roger Federer won the 2009 French Open but will have difficulty reaching the semifinals this year. The Swiss has great drawing power but his star has been tinged a bit this year. He will open against a Spanish clay court expert, unseeded Feliciano Lopez. His quarter bracket has Jo Willy Tsonga of France, and Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic and Stanislaus Wawrinka.

At the top of the Federer quarter is hot-playing David Ferrer (7). Ferrer will have to overcome Gael Monfils and Michael Llorda of France. Ferrer has had success with Federer in the past and looms as a strong candidate in the quarter finals.

First round action begins Sunday May 22nd. The tournament finals will be played on June 5th. We think Andy Murray is ready to stake his claim. With a favorable draw and his new commitment, the Scot is finally ready to claim his first Grand Slam.

Related Articles

Tags:

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.