The 122nd French Open starts this weekend and the question on everyone’s lips — as it is every year — is can anyone dethrone clay court master Rafael Nadal?

Just as intriguing, however, is the return to Roland Garros of new mother Serena Williams, who is ranked 453rd in the world but ominously declared she’s ‘coming back to win’.

Here, Adam Peacock dissects for foxsports.com.au both the men’s and women’s fields at this year’s French Open.


MEN’S
And here we are again, that time of the year when we try to pick holes in Rafael Nadal’s chances at the French Open. And can’t find any.

17 wins on clay since April. Sure, one loss, but an off day in Madrid against Dominic Thiem aside, just two other dropped sets. Two. Friggin’. Sets.

Spooky thing is, it was exactly the same in 2017. Heading to Paris, a 17-1 record. A loss to Thiem, just two other sets dropped. Two. Friggin’. Sets.

With that record he went out and destroyed all-comers to win Roland Garros for the 10th time.

11 appears a formality, though watching it will be anything but routine. Watching perfection is not, and cannot be, routine.

If it feels that way, one feels your time is wasted watching sport. When Nadal is gone from the court, he will be missed. Everyone who follows and shows glimpses of greatness will be compared to the Spaniard.

How someone of my generation would love to see Phar Lap run at Flemington, or Jesse Owens sprint in Berlin, or Pele bolt into the box in 1970, or Muhammad Ali throw them in Zaire.

Just to experience it. Tennis fans now are spoilt. These next two weeks we get Nadal on clay, in the now! I’d call it fortune.

Only two others look to have a realistic hope of even getting close to Nadal.

Sascha Zverev, the number two seed, has the most to gain. The German has failed to get to the second week of a major, making a liar of the boom on him.

It’s justifiable excitement — three Masters Series titles no fluke — but in the age of careers defined by the eight weeks of majors a year, there’s a big hole to be filled.

At 21, time is Zverev’s friend, and he’s still working out what it actually takes in terms of preparation.

Differences with Juan Carlos Ferrero led to the Spaniard walking away as coach.

But he’s 21. Only Nadal — who as a child would wake in a cold sweat at the thought of giving a mere 98 per cent in practice — could claim perfection in preparation at such an age.

Dominic Thiem has worked out hard work equals reward. Perhaps he’s gone too far.

The Austrian played this week in Lyon. Sure, the six figure appearance fee will make an extremely comfortable financial position that little more extremely comfortable, but at the cost of preparing properly?

The only man to cause Nadal pain in two years on clay, yet five sets are different. Everything needs to be perfect, and on top of that a little luck is required.

Marin Cilic is in the mix, but hard court appears to be his thing, Juan Martin Del Potro is certainly good enough on his day, though having seven of those days in the space of two weeks may be beyond his body, while David Goffin and Diego Schwartzman are as entertaining as any to watch, but can either get near a fit Nadal on clay? Thought so.

Novak Djokovic once did and the former number one showed signs last week in Rome. Get the feeling though he’s still searching for what made him unbeatable.

There was that weird story earlier in the year where he put forward the idea of boycotting to get more money for players — strongly refuted by him, but confirmed by others — and then he unceremoniously parted ways with Andre Agassi. It’s all a bit odd.

Nick Kyrgios goes in with as little hype as we’ve seen in a few years, with any possible expectations taken away by six weeks off court to fix another niggle that won’t go away.

He’s drawn a qualifier, and by the way, Bernie Tomic is still in qualifying. That possibility intrigues.

Of the other Australians in the draw, Alex de Minaur — the Demon! — got a wildcard as he grinds his way through a first full year with the big boys on tour.

Kyle Edmund, the Australian Open semi-finalist, will provide a really good indication of exactly where he’s at in the first round.

De Minaur is one of 128 in the draw.

Or with Nadal present, one of the 127 trying to do the impossible.

WOMEN’S
A path forward in the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula has more clarity than working out who will be women’s champion.

Here’s the problem in working out who the hell will have a trophy in Paris in a fortnight: Those who can blow opponents away crave consistency, but can’t find it.

Those who are consistent find it hard to blow opponents away.

And the wonder woman who can do both hasn’t played a grand slam tournament in 16 months, understandably busy with the creation of a human.

There is, conservatively, 20 players who can be the one left standing. This is nothing new. The last year and a half, since Serena has been off the scene, has been the same.

The big three clay events on the WTA Tour — Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome — were won by three different players; Karolina Pliskova, Petra Kvitova and Elina Svitolina. All power players.

The beaten finalists were another power player in CoCo Vandeweghe (still working with Pat Cash), as well as the crafty Kiki Bertens and craftier Simona Halep, who has the number one ranking again despite the ‘*not won a slam’ still affixed to her name.

Caroline Wozniacki has not made a final since her Australian Open triumph over Halep.

Maria Sharapova bobbed up in Rome with a semi-final appearance, still fighting to find her best.

Garbine Muguruza, world beater one day, beaten by a sore back or 100 in the world the next.

Sloane Stephens, the US Open champion, won Miami in March but has beaten no-one else in the top 25 in 2018.

Jelena Ostapenko, who shot to fame here 12 months ago, has three wins and three losses on the clay this season.

Angie Kerber has been about the most consistent this season, making at least the quarters in all she’s played, apart from one event — Stuttgart, in which she retired with a thigh problem that may or may not have totally cleared.

Naomi Osaka, the rising Japanese superstar who thrashed Halep on her way to winning Indian Wells in March, was thrashed by Halep in Rome last week.

Confused? CONFUSED?!?!

And then there’s Serena. Four matches since becoming a mother, two wins, two losses, the last of which was in March. While Rome played out last week, she was at the Royal Wedding.

Any other player in the draw and she’d not even be a consideration.

And when you think of it rationally, she’s probably not.

But she’s Serena. Serena the Great. Serena the Mum; you’d imagine she’s got better things to do than just show up to Paris with a valiant third round defeat in mind.

From an Australian perspective, maybe it won’t get that far.

Our main hope Ash Barty is a big chance of playing Serena in the second round. Barty has found it hard to get going since her final appearance in Sydney in January, though a run in Strasbourg this week lends thought to better times ahead.

Fitting, really, because that’s the theme for ALL the main chances.

Seriously, if you can make sense of it and come up with a definitive answer to who plays in the final, you’re needed to stop a war, or cure illness. A genius deserves a higher calling.