Eurosport expert Laura Robson believes Rafael Nadal is the favourite to win the French Open, despite his lack of preparation.
Nadal has been sidelined with a hip injury since January and has just withdrawn from the first ATP 500 clay court tournament of the season at the Monte Carlo Masters after he revealed he is still not fully recovered.
While Nadal doesn’t have the luxury of time spent on the court over the past few months, he does have 14 Roland Garros titles behind him and should the Spaniard arrive in Paris healthy, Robson believes he can secure a record 15th title.
‘’It is crazy to even say that he is playing for potential 15th Roland-Garros title. It's mental,’’ Robson told Eurosport.
‘’The numbers that he's had at Paris, it's like hard to wrap your head around, but I just think he needs matches.
‘’He's entered pretty much every week leading up to Roland-Garros, and it's just whether he's healthy.
‘’I think he's had a couple of tournaments now where he's pushed maybe a little too hard and his body's broken down because of that. So it's just finding that balance of when to come back at the right time, where you feel like you're totally ready to play seven matches over the course of two weeks in Paris.
“He's so good on clay and is so confident on that surface that you feel if he misses the first week, it's not the end of the world.
‘’He doesn’t have anywhere near the same preparation that he did last year coming into the clay season, but at the same time, he's had a couple of weeks home now of what looks like really intense, solid practice that I've seen from the videos.’’
Despite her backing of the 22-time Grand Slam champion, Robson acknowledged he will face difficult rivals from the next generation that have the potential to challenge him along the way.
‘’On the clay, you feel like he's just going to be able to find another gear like he always has done, but there are some more players that mentally feel like they can challenge him,’’ Robson added.
"I don't think anyone in previous years felt like they could beat Rafa on clay.
"And now there's so much confidence in [Carlos] Alcaraz, [Jannik] Sinner and [Daniil] Medvedev and even a couple of the lower ranked guys who could potentially pull off an upset.
‘’The draw is wide open, but for me, it's hard to root against Rafa on clay.’’
The French Open kicks off on May 28.
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