"Carlos Alcaraz is the most solid player at the moment" says Patrick Mouratoglou

Tuesday, 17 May 2022 at 07:30

Updated at Monday, 09 December 2024 at 14:37

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byErik Virostko

Ahead of the 2022 Roland Garros, famous coach Patrick Mouratoglou named four players to watch at the second Grand Slam of the year and named Carlos Alcaraz "the most solid player at the moment."

The 2022 Roland Garros will be a spectacular event and many experts are already debating who could win the title in Paris this year, including Patrick Mouratoglou.

The French coach named Carlos Alcaraz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as the top contenders for the title in the French capital.

For each one of them, Mouratoglou had a good reason. In Alcaraz's case, it was obviously the form that he will bring to the French capital after doing well in the previous events.

"Carlos Alcaraz is probably the most solid player at the moment. He won Barcelona, he won Madrid as well as Miami a few weeks earlier. In Madrid he became the first player to defeat both Nadal and Djokovic in the same clay-court event."

Mouratoglou will also have a player he has worked with as one of the main contenders in the ATP event, Stefanos Tsitsipas. However, he will also be cheering for Simona Halep, who is his most recent acquisition to the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy and has shown some solid performances under the French coach.

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"Stefanos Tsitsipas was a finalist last year at Roland Garros and also had a good clay-court preparation for Roland Garros. He defended his title in Monte Carlo and racked up big wins over the last month."

On the other hand, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are obvious choices, given their unprecedented success, especially in Nadal's case when it comes to clay.

"There will be huge stakes for Novak Djokovic at the Roland Garros this year. He dominated across several Grand Slam tournaments last year and this will be his first major in 2022. If he wins, he will tie Rafa in the GOAT race with 21 and be in a great position to take the lead."

"Rafael Nadal is known as a King of Clay and winning this year's Roland Garros would mean taking a two-title lead on Roger and Novak in the GOAT race. But he didn't have a good clay-court preparation and didn't look in too good physical shape against Shapovalov in Rome."