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French yes, Open not really
Welcome to the French Open - a tournament only mildly less predictable than the one that occurs in SW19. Rafael Nadal has won the previous three tournaments in relative ease, astonishingly dropping just seven sets in twenty-one games. British viewers will have their eyes firmly peeled on Andy Murray but precedent would suggest that much like Nicholas from The Apprentice – he won't be making week two. Whilst predicting the demise of Nadal or Federer prior to the final looks like risky business, predicting where the demise of the other top seeds will occur, may prove to be the lucrative option.
What should you know?
» Don't rule out the top four seeds all being the semi-finalists. It happened as recently as 2006. That would be good news for Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Davydenko.
» This won't come as great news if you're hoping from a success from outside of Europe - the last fifteen Grand Slams have all been won by European players.
» Not since 1992 has the same person won the Australian Open and then the French – bad news for Djokovic.
» In four of the last five years one of the top three seeds has gone out in the third round or earlier.
» It would be a shock not to see at least one top four seed make the final – the last time that happened was back in 2002.
What of Murray?
» The French Open has only ever once been won by a British player: Fred Perry (1935).
» There has been no British men's winner of any Grand Slam since 1936.
» Andy Murray is the number ten seed in France. The number ten seed went out in the first round last year (Berdych) and the best a number ten seed has done in the last ten years was Grosjean in 2001 who reached the Semi-Final. Two of the last three number ten seeds have bowed out in round four.
» Murray has never been beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam and has only once been to the French Open – he went out in the first round back in 2006.
» However, in the past decade, Rafael Nadal won the 2005 French Open without getting past the quarter final of any previous grand slams as did Gustavo Kuerten in 1997.
» Check out our grid showing when the top seeds went out of the French Open in recent years.
French Open winner, best odds
