As much as the vast majority's desire was to have a Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal as the closing episode of the 2017 french open, the main draw could have these two facing each other in the semifinals. The Serb tennis star is sharing the bottom half of the draw with the 30-year-old Spaniard. Their collision could happen if they reach the last four stages, which might be not that easy given their projected trajectories. As a defending champion in Paris, the Serb will try something new at this event as he recently co-opted Andre Agassi as his main coach.
On the other side, Nadal is the one with the highest level of consistency during the clay court swing of 2017.
Novak Djokovic could end a sabbatical year
Approximately 12 months ago, Novak closed a significant chapter of his career by winning the French Open for the first time. It was a career-defining moment, and also the absolute peak of his tennis. From that summit, he went down into a dangerous spiral struggling to maintain that elevated pace of 2015 and part of 2016. His projected trajectory towards another French Open final has some stones attached. His road could be blocked in the quarterfinal stages where Dominic Thiem or David Goffin could emerge. The Austrian, Dominic Thiem, is the second most consistent player on clay this season being a runner-up in Barcelona and Madrid, and while in Rome he reached the semifinals.
Even so, to have a tennis legend in the coaching box might pump some new blood into Djokovic's game. The Serb shown some signs of changing last week when he reached the finals in Rome.
Rafael Nadal seeks the 10th Roland Garros
On the other side, Spain's number one enters the contest in Paris with a single thought on his mind, which is to conquer the French Open again.
Paris is the second home for Nadal, the place that helped him to establish himself as one of the greatest tennis players in history. Even more, it's the venue where he won his last Grand Slam. Nadal has a quarter where only Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov can pose a decent threat to the Spaniard.
If Federer is removed from the equation, Rafael Nadal stands as the most consistent player of the season, at least for now.
He has a 36-6 win-loss record winning three titles in 2017. Overall, he has a total of six finals; being a runner-up at the Australian Open, Acapulco, and Miami. Two of them were lost to Roger Federer and the third one to Sam Querrey. This could be his chance to shine.
