French Open legend Rafael Nadal is a household name in the Roland Garros whenever the Grand Slam comes around every year. Despite his injury concerns, the Spaniard is always considered a contender for the coveted trophy, having won the French Open Grand Slam a record 13 times.
Having won the Australian Open earlier in the year will have surely boosted Nadal's confidence, but Indian tennis star Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan believes that the younger tennis players have gained a lot of confidence given Nadal's increasing age and injuries. "It's never easy, especially since he is getting older. Not just with the injuries, it's also to do with the next generation of players who are getting more confident. They actually believe that they can beat him on clay," Jeevan said during a media event.
"He has never come into the Roland Garros with much fewer wins. The fact that he is getting older, his injuries are catching up, and the next generation truly believes that they have a legitimate shot at beating Rafa. It's going to be difficult. It's not easy, but for somebody who has won 21 Grand Slams, 13 of them coming at this particular one, it's very hard to write him off as not a favourite. That being said, it is never easy to win a grand slam," he added.
When asked about the progress of Indian tennis, Jeevan stressed the point that the grassroots level of the game have to be developed at a much higher scale to reach the level of top tennis-playing nations, "Hopefully, when we have a good grassroots system in place to constantly keep producing players. We can then only have a conversation on whether Indian tennis is going to consistently churn out stars like Japanese tennis or American tennis.
"Until we have a good system in place to create players, with the coaching and the infrastructure and the amount of exposure and support that they are getting, we can have such conversations when we have a system in place to create such players. Until then, we just need to celebrate the fact that there are a few players who are making it on the tour despite the current situation," the 33-year-old reiterated.
WHERE TO WATCH
Roland-Garros Morning and Evening Session at 2:30 pm & 7:30 pm IST, on Sony Six, Sony Ten 2 (English), Sony Ten 3 (Hindi) and Sony Ten 4 (Tamil & Telugu).
