Alcaraz Faces Title Defence at Roland Garros

Carlos Alcaraz has thrived on clay. After a shaky start to the season, with the joy of his first indoor title in Rotterdam but disappointments in Australia, Indian Wells, and Miami, the Spaniard has turned his trajectory around with a fantastic European clay tour, making him the favourite to retain the title in Paris.

Between April 6, when Monte Carlo began, and last Sunday, when Rome concluded, Alcaraz added both Masters 1,000 titles to his record, completing the clay triplet as Guga Kuerten, Marcelo Ríos, Rafa Nadal, and Novak Djokovic did in the past, in addition to playing the final in Barcelona, where he was surpassed by Holger Rune.

He has added 2,300 points to his tally, reduced the gap with Jannik Sinner to 1,530, and, above all, demonstrated to the Italian that, despite being ahead in the rankings, Alcaraz is the one who dominates on clay. The Rome final, decided by a spectacular first set in the tiebreak, has brought the unbeatable Italian down to earth and crowned Alcaraz with a well-deserved favouritism in Paris.

The draw has also favoured the Spaniard, with a relatively smooth path and most of the big names on the other side of the bracket. He wouldn't face Djokovic, Sinner, or Alexander Zverev until the final. The first major threat in his draw is Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals, but the Greek, who has won four matches on the clay tour, is a shadow of his former self and is far from the player who reached the final of this tournament and had a two-set lead against Djokovic four years ago.

Alcaraz will debut tomorrow against Kei Nishikori, a US Open finalist back in 2014 and a fighter against injuries in recent years. The Japanese player is not in great physical shape and withdrew from his match against Karen Khachanov in Geneva this week, so he should not pose a significant obstacle for the Spaniard, who has already completed a couple of training sessions at Philippe Chatrier and participated as the reigning champion in the draw alongside footballer Ousmane Dembelé.

At Roland Garros, where last year Alcaraz began his perfect summer with a victory in Paris followed by his second Wimbledon, the player from El Palmar cannot gain points on Sinner, nor will he be able to do so in London, so the dream of returning to number one for the first time since September 2023 will have to be postponed until at least the US Open.

While Sinner is expected to step up compared to previous years and reach at least the final, having put behind him the doping episode that kept him off the circuit for three months, the enigma lies with Djokovic, who lost in his debuts in Monte Carlo and Madrid and withdrew from Rome.

The Serbian, who is only looking to improve his own records and surpass Margaret Court with the 25th Grand Slam, has revived this week in Geneva, where he has won two good matches, showing his best form since reaching the Miami final in March. Roland Garros is likely the Grand Slam that benefits him the least, especially with the level of Alcaraz and Sinner, but he has had a favourable draw, with Daniil Medvedev as a potential rival in the fourth round and Zverev in the quarters.