So as one sport’s season ends another approaches its most important phase. Men’s tennis does not have that much in common with the Premier League but they share a top four that is incredibly difficult to break into – for Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal read Manchester United and City, Chelsea and Arsenal. Some might even say it has become a tad too predictable in both cases.
As for the female side of tennis, right now Serena Williams looks like a one-woman version of United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich rolled into one after her Italian Open triumph, as we head into the period encapsulating the French Open and Wimbledon. She looks very capable of pulling off this particular double.
Among the top men’s quartet it is clear who is in the best shape. Nadal’s comeback has exceeded expectations and the most noteworthy thing is that even on the truncated practice and training schedule that he alluded to last week he looks as fit and fast as ever.
Scroll down for 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic's verdict on Murray Ominous: Rafa Nadal (left) and Serena Williams will be favourites to win the French Open in Paris More from Mike Dickson... World of Tennis: Gulbis may be right that the top four are boring and polite... but no sport has the characters of 30 years ago 02/06/13 The tune has been changed: The ITPL launch will finally end the tedious annual complaints over the length of the calendar 26/05/13 World of Tennis: Slams need to help smaller events pay the way for Future stars 13/05/13 All England Club can't find members who saw Bunny's big day 08/07/12 Mike Dickson's World of Tennis: Jack's not court short 01/07/12 Mike Dickson's World of Tennis: Confounding stereotypes 17/06/12 World of Tennis: Like her parents before her, Baltacha deserves Olympic spot 10/06/12 World of Tennis: Watson has no issues with new Brit Konta 03/06/12 VIEW FULL ARCHIVEHe rebounded from an exhausting encounter with David Ferrer to put in what he called his best clay performance of the season to date against Tomas Berdych. If anyone thought the monotony of his clay court dominance looked set to break they were seriously mistaken.
Djokovic has castigated himself for losing concentration in matches. I doubt this will be a problem at Roland Garros, which is his top priority this year and will focus the mind. Expect him to be Nadal’s most serious and possibly only realistic challenger over five sets. Federer was impressive in Rome until he got run over by Nadal in the final, shaking off any ring rust and dispelling fears that his long break may have had too much an adverse effect. He is still a long shot for Paris, but anyone would be a fool to write him off for Wimbledon.
As for Andy Murray the question du jour is whether he will actually make it to Paris. Rather than purely speculate, let us look at a few facts. At the time of writing it is five days since he pulled out of his match against Marcel Granollers and on Friday morning he had a scan. That he has not withdrawn from Roland Garros in this time suggests that the initial findings, at least, have not revealed anything obvious that automatically ruled him out. Another fact is that he won five out of the last seven games and then a tiebreak against Granollers, who is a very capable clay court player.
It would be a great shame if that sequence proves to be his final act of his clay court season, especially as there were signs in the match against Tomas Berdych the previous week in Madrid that he was starting to play well upon this troublesome surface. So here’s hoping.
After Djokovic’s demise there was talk in Rome that the Big Four were looking slightly more vulnerable, but every time the door looks like being prised open it seems to get slammed shut again, this time most firmly by Nadal. This is the case even for someone as good as Berdych or Ferrer, who probably know how Tottenham feel.
Plenty to ponder: Andy Murray has yet to commit to the French Open after injuring his back
The large and varied response to last week’s item about prize money levels at the lowest ranking professional tournaments shows that this is quite a raw issue for many. As one pointed out, among the men and women there are around 1,000 events every year with seriously meagre prize money, so it would cost about £3.4 million a year from the sport’s coffers to give them each a £3,250 boost to make them a little more attractive financially.
VIDEO Ivanisevic: Murray might skip French Open
