Rafael Nadal is an eight-time champion at Roland Garros and a four-time defending champion, yet two players have gone out on a limb and tipped Dominic Thiem, who faces him in the second round, to pull off an upset.
Ernests Gulbis, who is a good friend of the 20-year-old Thiem and they both share the same coach, was asked if he thought the Austrian had a shot at Nadal.
“I honestly think so,” said Gulbis. “I warmed up with him this morning, he’s been hitting the ball really good for the last month we’ve been practicing.”
Austrian veteran Jurgen Melzer shared Gulbis’ views as he tweeted: “Impressive performance by @ThiemDomi today… I think he has shot against Rafa.”
Thiem, ranked 57 in the world, is one of the ATP’s brightest prospects and has had a good run-up to Roland Garros, qualifying in Barcelona and Madrid before a trip to the last 16 in both.
He refuses to second the opinions of Gulbis and Melzer though.
Thiem believes it will be the “greatest challenge of his career” and says he’s approaching the match as a learning experience against one of his own idols.
“It will be a great lesson from him for sure. I hope that I can compete in the future with these kind of guys in two, three years' time,” the quietly-spoken Thiem told Sport360°.
“It will be my first time against the greatest clay-court player ever. And one of my childhood idols of course. It’s going to be a great experience.
"I’ve never played on Philippe Chatrier so I will practice once on it and I won’t do anything different than the other days (to prepare for the match).”
Top-seeded Nadal admits he has never seen Thiem play but expects an inspired effort from a much-lauded youngster.
“I heard very, very good things about him. I didn’t see him play, but I know he’s a young player and he’s a very dangerous opponent,” said Nadal of Thiem. “To win against anyone I need to play at a good level and I need to be ready to fight for everything.”
Meanwhile, the seventh-seeded, Andy Murray, is expecting a tough match against ‘Mad Dog’ Marinko Matosevic, who won his first ever grand slam main draw match in the opening round and hilariously celebrated by rolling around the clay repeatedly towards the net.
“It was his first Grand Slam win. I think he lost 11 or 12 in a row,” said Murray of the comedic Australian.
“I get on very well with Marinko. He’s a funny guy. He’s a good ball striker and he’s had some good wins on the tour as a result.
"He’s a strong guy. It will be tough.”
The nickname ‘Mad Dog’ appeared on Matosevic’s Wikipedia page in 2012 and he became so incensed by fans calling him it at the Australian Open this year that he asked for the umpire to tell them to stop.
In an expletive-laden press conference after losing to Kei Nishikori, Matosevic called the nickname “stupid” and criticised his coach, former doubles great Mark Woodforde, for not offering enough vocal support.
Matosevic said: “I really don’t care any more. It started off I thought it was a joke in Sydney. And then the way I reacted to it obviously fed you guys and fed the crowd or whatever and then it got worse. I can’t change it now.”
Murray was handed Fabrice Santoro’s business card on court after his opening match as the Frenchman jokingly asked him to consider his services as his new coach.
Questioned whether his search for a coach could affect his focus for the tournament, Murray said: “It’s not something that’s distracting me right now, so, yeah, it’s not been a problem for me so far.”
Others in action today include fifth-seeded David Ferrer, who plays Italian Simone Bolelli along with home favourites Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet.
