One of the major contenders to win this years French Open is World no . 3 Roger Federer . Federer has had a very good clay season , Though he played less clay events than any other player this year but he looked good in almost all the clay matches he has played this season .
Federer opted not to play Monte Carlo masters to give his body much needed break after a long and successful hard court season ( He won Dubai , Rotterdam and Indian Wells ) .
Federer began his clay court campaign in Madrid , on the much talked about Blue Clay courts . Playing the first time on the Blue Clay Federer took his time to adjust to the surface , he faced a tough challenge in the form of an young and promising Canadian Milos Raonic . Federer had no read on Raonic's serve in the first set and the Canadian took the set in a tie-break.
But Fed used all his experience and lifted his game at the right moment and managed to win in 3 tight sets .
Federer had the toughest draw in Madrid . Had to face very talented players like Gasquet , Ferrer , Tipsarevic .
But Federer looked in top form and breezed through the matches in straight sets .
Federer faced the hard hitting Czech Tomas Berdych . Berdych has had a very good clay court season and looked in ominous form . He started on a great note taking the attack to Federer , fired winner after winner past Federer and eventually took the first set 6-3 .
Federer needed to stop Berdych's on-slaught . Fed Served well in the second set , broke Berdych at the right moment and took the set 7-5 . Third set was a tight affair as well but Federer used all his experience and clinched the final set 7-5 to win his 3rd Madrid Masters and 74 th career title .
Source : Roger Federer Official FB page
Winning Madrid must have done wonders to Federer's confidence leading upto the French Open . He faced a tough draw , adjusted to the conditions very well and was great from the back of the court .
Federer served particularly well and hit his back hand down the line with so much confidence . It's a low percentage shot specially for Federer since he has a single handed back-handed , but when he hits those well you know he is feeling good about his game .
After Madrid the next stop for Federer was Rome . He was unsure whether to play Rome or not , but chose to play at the last moment . Federer looked good on the Red Clay as well . Rome clay is rather slow and doesn't suit Federer's style of play that much but Fed adopted fairly well with conditions and breezed through his early rounds .
He had the tough task of facing the defending champion and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals .
It was clearly not Federer's best day . His first serve percentage was way down at 40 % and made loads of Unforced Errors . Djokovic played well and capitalized on the opportunities .He took the 1st set 6-2 .
The second set was a closer affair , but Djokovic got the crucial break of serve and served for the match at 5-4 .
But there was a twist in the tale as Federer broke back to square the match at 5-5 . But Djokovic won the tie-break and won the match 6-2 , 7-6 .
It's true , it was not Federer's best day in the office . But he played 9 matches in the duration of 11 days . Clearly he was fatigued and didn't have enough gas in the tank to play his best .
But there is no need to panic . Federer has lost only 4 matches post Us Open 2011 and bagged 4 titles in 2012 ( Dubai , Rotterdam , Indian Wells , Madrid ) which is a splendid effort . He is in good form , hitting the ball well and cleanly , most importantly Federer feels good and confident about his game right now .
I think Federer has a great chance of winning his 2nd French open this year .Believing in himself would be the key .
Rafael Nadal is always an overwhelming favorite to win the French Open . This year is no different . Nadal has had a great clay season bagging 3 titles ( Monte Carlo , Barcelona , Rome ) along the way . 2 of those 3 wins were by beating Djokovic in the finals , which shall give him immense confidence ahead of the French Open .
Djokovic is always a contender to win a slam on any surface now . So he would want to win the French Open for sure .
All in all the French Open should be a great event . The Top 3 all in good form , new rising stars eager to pull of upsets and knock out the big guns . At the end of the day Tennis fans are the winners
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