Laura Robson hails Rafael Nadal’s incredible pedigree ahead of French Open as he targets 15th title

Laura Robson hailed Rafael Nadal’s incredible pedigree at the French Open as he targets a 15th title at Roland-Garros, but believes the competition will be more open this year.

Speaking to Eurosport’s Arnold Montgault, she said: “It is crazy to even say that he is playing for potential 15th Roland-Garros title. It’s mental. The numbers that he’s had at Paris, it’s like hard to wrap your head around, but I just think he needs matches.

“He’s entered pretty much every week leading up to Roland-Garros, and it’s just whether he’s healthy. I think he’s had a couple of tournaments now where he’s pushed maybe a little too hard and his body’s broken down because of that. So it’s just finding that balance of when to come back at the right time, where you feel like you’re totally ready to play seven matches over the course of two weeks in Paris.

“He’s so good on clay and is so confident on that surface that you feel if he misses the first week, it’s not the end of the world. He doesn’t have anywhere near the same preparation that he did last year coming into the clay season, but at the same time, he’s had a couple of weeks home now of what looks like really intense, solid practice that I’ve seen from the videos.”

“On the clay, you feel like he’s just going to be able to find another gear like he always has done, but there are some more players that mentally feel like they can challenge him.

“I don’t think anyone in previous years felt like they could beat Rafa on clay,” Robson continued.

“And now there’s so much confidence in (Carlos) Alcaraz, (Jannik) Sinner and (Daniil) Medvedev and even a couple of the lower ranked guys who could potentially pull off an upset. The draw is wide open, but for me, it’s hard to root against Rafa on clay.”

Robson explained that Nadal’s serve could be impacted by his recent injuries, but is confident that the 36-year-old will come to the fore as the tournament reaches its business end.

“I’ll be looking out for the first serve speed. The last few injuries he’s had have all kind of been around the stomach areas, around the hip flexor areas, and those are the ones that are toughest to get rid of,” she explained.

“If you’re not careful, they can come back so easily. And if you kind of go from weeks and weeks of not playing to match intensity, that’s when they can come back.

“So, I’ll be looking for that just to see how much he’s giving it on the first serve, whether it’s numbers wise right up there with his best. But you just look at the movement now with Rafa because the tennis ability is generally still there, it’s more about whether the body hold up?

“Hopefully it does, because it’s like a magical thing to watch him on clay when he’s 100% fit and just able to come up with something special.

“Before his injury in Australia, he was missing his forehand so often. Although, if his forehand game is strong from the start in Barcelona, then maybe a 15th title is on the way.”

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