Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are likely to face new challenges at the 2023 Roland Garros, according to coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
The 2023 season has been tough for Nadal and Djokovic due to inconsistency and ongoing injuries. Nadal recently missed out at Monte Carlo and Madrid for the first time since 2004, while Djokovic has only played eight matches since his winning his tenth Australian Open in January.
As a result of the declining physicality and form of the two 22-time Grand Slam champions, things might be different this year at Roland Garros. Serena Williams' former coach Mouratoglou took to Instagram recently to highlight how the pair are in an unforeseen situation that could hamper them at the French Open.
"The fact that Novak, for the moment is not finding his tennis, is a little bit injured, the fact that Rafa is now injured for a long time and was supposed to come back to play these clay court tournaments before Roland-Garros and he is not able to play them, puts the two biggest players and the two best, probably of all time and the ones who are dominating so much on clay, in a very strange and unique situation and it opens the field to many others. So that's why, first it's as open it can be,"
Also, the continuous momentum of the new ATP stars could also give the two greats a challenge in Paris. Mouratoglou pointed to just a few of the current younger players who are enjoying success in 2023 that could stop the Nadal-Djokovic dominance.
"We see that Carlos Alcaraz is playing an incredible tennis at the moment. Holger Rune also played great on clay so as Andrey Rublev. Now, the two Masters 1000 Madrid and Rome on clay will give us so much more information. We will see who are the most dangerous players on the surface leading to this Roland-Garros,"
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