PARIS: With the world’s top five occupied by players over 30 for the first time, Rafael Nadal is poised to tighten the old guard’s Grand Slam grip by capturing an unprecedented 10th French Open.

The Spaniard, written off as a contender in Paris after a quarter-final loss to Novak Djokovic in 2015 and an injury-enforced pull-out before the third round last year, arrives at Roland Garros as the overwhelming favourite.

The 30-year-old has already reached the magical 10 titles this year at the clay-court events in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

For good measure, he also won Madrid for a fifth time, ending a two-year seven-match losing streak against Djokovic in the process.

Nadal boasts a sensational career record at Roland Garros — 72 wins and just two defeats, to Djokovic in 2015 and an injury-affected shock loss to Robin Soderling in 2009.

That defeat to the Swede opened the door for Roger Federer to win his only French Open title.

However, Federer, at 35, is skipping the French Open to save himself for an assault on an eighth Wimbledon.

Djokovic, the defending champion in Paris, and world number one Andy Murray are struggling for form ahead of the tournament which starts Sunday.

However, Nadal is desperate to keep a lid on expectations.

“You have to write what you have to do, but I don’t care,” said Nadal when asked about his status as favourite.

Nadal has also thrived on hard courts in 2017, reaching his first Slam final in three years when he lost in five sets to Federer in Australia despite being a break to the good in the deciding set.

He was a beaten finalist against Federer in Miami while his title triumph in Madrid gave him a record-equalling 30th Masters title to add to his 14 majors.

Nadal’s record on clay against the world’s top two is also heavily-weighted in his favour — 8-2 against Murray (2-0 at Roland Garros) and 10-5 when facing Djokovic (5-1 in Paris).

The Spanish star will open his campaign against combustible Frenchman Benoit Paire, a man he described “as not the ideal opponent” first up.

Friday’s draw, meanwhile, placed him on a semi-final collision course with Djokovic.

Djokovic will have US legend Andre Agassi as coach for the first time.

Djokovic completed the career Grand Slam at last year’s French Open when he also held all four majors.

On clay this year, Djokovic has at least been on an upward curve — quarter-finals in Monte Carlo, semi-finals in Madrid and a runners-up spot in Rome where he was demolished by Alexander Zverev.

Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka have dominated the Grand Slams since 2005. However, a couple of dark horses are hoping to spring a surprise at the French Open.

The 20-year-old Alexander Zverev beat Djokovic to win the Italian Open last Sunday, while the 23-year-old Dominic Thiem also impressed in the tournament, defeating Nadal.

“I think that Rafa is the big favourite,” Thiem said. “Novak is coming, for sure behind him. And then Murray, you never know. He’s such a big player. He can also play amazing here.

“And after these three I think there are some players who can go very deep here who can make big surprises and to these players I count Sascha [Alexander Zverev] and myself.”

This is the first week in the 40-year-plus history of the ATP computer rankings that the top five men are all 30 or older.

However, the seventh-ranked Thiem doesn’t see that as failure by the younger players.

“They are so big players that it’s I think normal that they are still so good with a little bit older age,” Thiem said. “But I wouldn’t say that the younger players, they didn’t make it. I mean there is Milos [Raonic] or Kei [Nishikori] that have been in the top 10 for a very long time.

“Everybody should know how tough it is. Because they didn’t win a slam yet, it doesn’t mean that they didn’t make it because obviously the Big 4 are so strong that it’s in this period really tough to win a big title.”

Thiem has already faced Nadal three times this year, losing finals in Barcelona and Madrid before beating the Spaniard in Rome 6-4, 6-3.

“The win over Rafa was of course a big thing for me,” Thiem said. “I played the best player on clay three times in three tournaments. I learned a lot ... so I think I prepared well for this tournament.”

Serena Williams’ bombshell pregnancy announcement last month triggered a sequence of events that has left this year’s women’s draw at Roland Garros wide open and primed for a new champion.

The 23-time Grand Slam winner learned she was pregnant just two days before starting a successful assault on January’s Australian Open and won’t return before next year.

The French federation then refused to award Maria Sharapova a wild card for the tournament with the Russian on the comeback trail following a 15-month doping suspension.

With Li Na long since retired that means the winners of five of the past six French Opens — Serena (2013, 2015), Sharapova (2012, 2014) and Li (2011) — are absent from the field, while several pretenders to the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen are battling injury and loss of form.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2017