“This is your chance,” Mats Wilander urges young players to step up in the absence of Rafael Nadal in the French Open

Mats Wilander has his say about the chances young guns have in front of them at French Open with Rafael Nadal not playing this year.

“This is your chance,” Mats Wilander urges young players to step up in the absence of Rafael Nadal in the French Open

Rafael Nadal, Holger Rune, Carlos Alcaraz, Mats Wilander and Jannik Sinner

Swedish legend Mats Wilander opines that this is the best chance for young guns to show their potential since the greatest player ever to embrace the Parisian clay is not playing the French Open. Wilander also says that Rafael Nadal’s absence will truly make an empty space in the men’s draw and whoever is going to win the title will be facing the question of whether he would have defeated a fit Nadal in his own backyard.

According to Wilander’s words, “The French Open is just not the same now that Rafael Nadal has decided not to play, The winner is always going to be questioned about if they could have won it if Nadal was in the tournament. The positive part of the announcement that Rafa made is that, of course, he is still thinking about playing at least another season.”

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The Swedish continued, “We wish for him to play forever, and to play at Roland-Garros forever; but at the same time, I don’t want to see him come to Paris and not be 100%, not feeling good and risking his future life. To the rest of the players: this is your chance because Rafa is not there, so you had better take it.” (Source: Eurosport)

Rafael Nadal-French Open: The greatest player-event duo of all time

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

The aura of Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros is unmatched and his mere non-participation has got the sporting world going nuts. Many great sportsmen haven’t had retirements generating such emotion. Considering all these, it could be stated that Rafael Nadal-Roland Garros is the greatest and most historically significant player-event duo of all time.

The numbers Rafael Nadal has in the French Open are almost equal to perfection. He has a 112-3 win-loss record over the 18 appearances. winning 14 times a tournament is a record that is going to remain forever considering the consistency and determination required to do that. Tennis pundits have already chosen this Nadal’s record as something never to be broken.

It is not so common that a player has a statue before retiring in a tournament that is not played in his home country. But Rafael Nadal had changed that perception as well. How does it feel for the opponents to try competing against a guy who has a statue in the place where they are going to meet? This is unreal supremacy and Mats Wilander is totally right when he says this is the chance for the young guns – when the owner of the place is not competing.

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