The French Open draw was announced today. Sometimes you wonder if the draw is done at random or not.
The big question, first.
Who got Novak Djokovic?
Turns out Novak is in Roger’s half of the draw. This means Andy Murray is in Nadal’s half of the draw.
Nadal opens up playing a qualifier. In his quarter of the draw are: Karlovic, Soderling, Ferrer, Davydenko, Wawrinka, Almagro. and Verdasco. I’m sure Verdasco is wondering why he is always on Nadal’s section of the draw. Nadal has the biggest group of tough players in his quarter.
In Murray’s section is: Montanes, Lopez, Stepanek, Gonzalez, Granollers, Simon. He faces Juan Ignocio Chela, once 15 in the world, now mired in the 200s. All things considered, this isn’t too horrible of a quarter for Murray. Still, he’ll need some work to get out of this quarter.
In Djokovic’s quarter is Andreev, Tsonga, Robredo, Fish, Ljubicic, and del Potro. This is a fairly tough section. Djokovic opens up with veteran Nicolas Lapentti. Ranked as high as 6 in the world, he’s now around 100.
In Federer’s quarter is Roddick, Blake, Monfils, Berdych. Roger seems to have the easiest quarter. Roger plays Alberto Martin. He’s been as high as the mid 30s, has made it to the 4th round of the French (3 years ago), but is ranked about 100 now.
In order of tough players, Nadal appears to have the toughest quarter, then Djokovic, then Murray, then Federer. The good news for Nadal is that many of the tough players are in Verdasco’s eighth of the draw, so only one player can come out of that section. Nadal’s toughest rival might be David Ferrer, if he can get out of his part of the draw.
