At Roland Garros the crown and Nadal’s number 1 will be up for grabs: who finishes better?

Among the men there will be many things at stake from Sunday onwards Bois de Boulogne start a new edition of Roland Garros. The most important thing, of course, will be knowing who will borrow Rafael Nadal’s crown for at least a year.

But the number 1 in the world is also at stake. And wow, that fight between Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas will have attractions.

The advantage for the top three is that winning the title won’t matter to the result of their rivals in the race to be the best. If on June 11th they raise the cup of Musketeers they will achieve the goal. No laps. The Greek Tsitsipas, on the other hand, will have to get his first Grand Slam and, moreover, that Alcaraz does not reach the second round and that Medvedev does not reach the semifinals. Otherwise your dream will be delayed.

Both Alcaraz and Medvedev or Tsitsipas can be number 1 without winning the tournament but also giving other results and here, in order not to bore you with too many data that will be repeated ad nauseam in the next few days, we must highlight the three will be 1 if they make it to the final of the tournament unless Medvedev wins the title (Alcaraz), Alcaraz or Djokovic make it (Medvedev) or Alcaraz reaches the quarterfinals and Medvedev reaches the semifinals (Djokovic).

The point to analyze between the four is how they will arrive. Who is better on clay, who is more confident, who has more experience in the toughest tournament of the year for playing best of five sets and on slow courts?

Here you need to pass through the sieve each of them.

Alcaraz was already a candidate to win in 2022 and he didn’t get it. She has a variety and integral game that no one else has, she has changes of pace and sensitivity, with enviable physical dexterity and power, even if she still lacks consistency.

Djokovic is the top seed because he’s of an excellent level, with a competitive pace and he’s the only one of the four who already knows what it’s like to win Roland Garros. It’s true that he doesn’t come away with a significant number of wins, but that’s irrelevant.

Medvedev inevitably made the shortlist for his triumph in Rome and why his feelings about brick dust have changed; Last year it wasn’t even close to what it is now on that surface where he seems better at playing rallies with more drive and serve rallies. And he has also evolved in his movements. But from there to being champion the field is long and it would be an important surprise.

Finally, Tsitsipas was already a finalist in the tournament, had two sets to zero against Djokovic and showed his qualities. But in 2023 he doesn’t look like he did last year because he’s more intermittent in tennis and in spirit.