Roland-Garros: Rafael Nadal will be seeded 5 and could face Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals – Eurosport FR

Five small matches. Before launching an assault on Roland-Garros, Rafael Nadal had never been so unprepared on clay with one exception: during his last title in 2020 when the tournament had been postponed to the fall. At the time, he had yielded in the quarter-finals in Rome (playing three matches therefore) before taking place in Paris. But all the players had then seen their program truncated. However, the calendar has returned to normal this season and it is the Majorcan’s body that has prevented him from doing more. Thursday evening, this damn left foot thus clearly diminished him against Denis Shapovalov in Italy. More than a simple defeat in the round of 16, the suffering revealed in spite of himself by Nadal questions his ability even to present himself on the Porte d’Auteuil. But the Spaniard is a fighter, he said he would benefit from the help of his doctor and would do everything to believe until the end in his dream of winning a 14th title at Roland. In the meantime, one thing is certain: this early defeat in Rome will cost him more than 900 points in the standings – he won the tournament last year – and will drop him one place. Roland-GarrosTsonga is there, Simon and Pouille too: the FFT announces its wild-cards10/05/2022 At 16:06The previous 2015, a very bad memory for NadalMonday, he will be 5th at ATP behind Stefanos Tsitsipas and therefore head series 5 in the Parisian Major. This demotion will expose him more, potentially from the quarter-finals. If he reaches this stage of the competition at Roland, he will face one of the four players ahead of him, and potentially therefore Novak Djokovic (who will be seeded 1 or 2 depending on his Roman result). This early shock could thus further complicate his eventual course towards the title, even if at the time of writing these lines all this seems very hypothetical. A “Djokodal” in Paris from the quarters would not however be unprecedented. It had already happened in 2015, and the memory is not the happiest for Nadal who was largely inclined (7-5, 6-3, 6-1). At the time, the Majorcan was going through a crisis of confidence and had been able to bounce back to reclaim his land kingdom two years later. At almost 36 spring, however, the equation is no longer the same for the person concerned who has to deal with an increasingly bruised body.Roland-GarrosThe FFT confirms that Russians and Belarusians will be present04/29/2022 At 06:29 am -GarrosKyrgios will play again in Paris… but in 202304/04/2022 At 09:42