MATS WILANDER PREVIEWS ROLAND-GARROS 2023
Eurosport tennis expert and seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Mats Wilander previews the men's singles favourites ahead of Roland-Garros 2023.
The men’s singles favourites:
The two favourites for me are Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. And then around five behind them - Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, and maybe Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev slightly behind.
Once the tournament starts and Novak starts winning, it will be clear that he will become the favourite. But because Rafa is not there it is so much more open.
We are able to forget the greatest players of all time immediately because our four Grand Slams are bigger than any player has ever been and the sport of tennis is bigger than any player will ever be.
Carlos Alcaraz is the exact imitation of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic in one player. That’s the legacy that we must never forget about.
It’s the way that they played the game and the way players have grown up watching them and they’ve learned this is how you play tennis. Every coach will say look at these three players and that’s how you’re supposed to play. The things he’s doing that we never saw with them is that he’s smiling because he can do everything these three did over their careers.
Can Alacaraz win as much as them? Probably not, but his style is so good. We can follow him over the next ten years being the best player in the world. I don’t remember watching a player that surprises us more than Alcaraz. He is more exciting than anyone other player I’ve ever seen.
On the ‘dark horses’:
The dark horse is any man that plays in the tournament that can beat anyone in the first round. There are so many guys that are so physically strong and they can have the best days of their lives.
Anyone can beat anyone if they have the best days of their lives. The darkest horse is maybe Holger Rune because he’s so young and clearly has the ability and confidence and we have clearly not seen the best tennis he will produce, but we might see it here. Maybe we have already seen the best Carlos Alcaraz last year at the US Open.
Watch every match from Roland-Garros on Eurosport and discovery+.
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