Roland Garros 2009 - French Open Tennis Tournament

There probably never was a time when a player was more of a favorite to win the Roland Garros tournament than now. And we all know that name: Rafael Nadal. Still, the men’s singles competition will ignite the imagination of many, as people expect Roger Federer to come out and respond to the world number 1. But here are the four favorite who seem to be, by far, the best players in the world.

1. Rafael Nadal
Even though he’s now only 22 and will turn 23 on June 3rd during this year’s Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal already has 4 French Open wins to his name. Amazingly, he has actually never lost at Roland Garros, having won the last 4 consecutive editions, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. He is an amazing player on clay. He has a total of 6 grand slam wins to his name, and in the last 3 editions of Roland Garros, he beat in the final who other than Roger Federer. As a matter of fact, 5 out of the 6 grand slam finals that he won were won against Roger Federer. Rafael Nadal is currently ranked 1 in the ATP rankings.

2. Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a name synonym to history in modern tennis. Born on August 8th 1981, this amazing player has 13 grand slam titles, just one shy of Pete Sampras’ all time record of 14. He was denied equaling this record by Rafael Nadal in this year’s final of Australian Open. He has the record of the greatest amount of time a player has been ranked world number 1, and it happened from February 2nd 2004 to August 17th, 2008. That amounts to an incredible consecutive 237 weeks. Roland Garros is the only grand slam title he has never won. I personally expect him to do it this year, although Nadal is the big favorite. The great Federer–Nadal rivalry is probably the most intense and incredible rivalry the world of tennis has ever known. Roger Federer is currently ranked number 2.

3. Novak Djokovic
He is the world number 3 and has been so since August 13th, 2007. The Serbian has one grand slam title to his name, the 2008 Australian Open, and was once runner up at the 2007 US Open, when he was beaten in the final be Roger Federer. He was born on May 22nd 1987 in Belgrade. He has closed the gap that separates him from being world number 2, and he will be looking to challenge that spot that belongs to Federer at this year’s Roland Garros.

4. Andy Murray
The Scottish player is just one week older than Novak Djokovic, as he was born on May 15th 1987. He has only one grand slam final to his name, the 2008 US Open. He was beaten in the final by the eternal Roger Federer. Experts agree that he is getting better and better at his game and the fact that he has won lately against Roger Federer on several occasions is proof of that. He is currently ranked 4th.

Other players that we should mention and are capable of deciding the champion are: Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina), Andy Roddick (USA) and Fernando Verdasco (Spain).