French Open 2020: Dominic Thiem, Fabio Fognini in Rafael Nadal's likely route to Title 13

Rafael Nadal began his quest for a historic 13th French Open title with a win in the Round 1 match against Belarus' E. Gerasimov on Monday. The two battled it out at the Phillippe Chatrier court in Paris after the completion of the Serena Williams-K Ahn French Open 2020 round one match. Although Nadal won Round 1 in style, Nadal's French Open 2020 draw gets tougher after the initial rounds.

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Rafa's predicted path to his 13th Roland Garros title

Rafa's worst performance at the French Open was his Round 3 exit in 2016 when he was forced to withdraw due to a wrist injury. Even though this will only be his second tournament since March, Rafa is the overwhelming favourite to win the French Open 2020. The absence of his arch-rival Roger Federer will be a motivating factor for the Rafa, though, in realistic terms, neither Djokovic nor Federer are real threats to the King of Clay when he's playing on clay. 

At the French Open 2020, Rafa is expected to meet the winner of the S.Diez-M.McDonald matchup in round two. In round three, he is expected to play either Kei Nishikori or S.Travaglia. His first real test at the French Open 2020 is predicted to be his round 4 match against Italian 14th seed Fabio Fognini. Though Nadal leads that head to head 12-4, Fogini remains the only person to have come up from a 0-2 set deficit against Rafa to win a match. Fogini made this record at the 2015 US Open.

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Rafael Nadal French Open 2020 draw analysis: QFs to Finals

Going by the belief that there will be no major upsets in the seeding, Rafa will face US Open runner-up, Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals of the French Open 2020. Rafa has a 5-1 record against the 23-year old, but their most recent fixture went in favour of the youngster. Zverev is still on the hunt for his first Grand Slam title, but he might have to wait a while. Rafa's biggest challenge if he makes it to the semi-final, will be Dominic Thiem.

The latest addition to the ranks of Grand Slam winner, Dominic Thiem has a much better 5-9 record against the Spaniard. Having tasted victory just a month ago, and that, on the back of a gritty five-setter, Thiem can be expected to put up a strong fight against Nadal. 

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Nadal's one major drawback going into the French Open 2020 will be the fact that he has only played three matches since his Mexico oOpen win this year. All his major competitors have been in the circuit for about two months now, starting at the Cincinnati Masters, followed by the US Open, and then the Italian Open. This will be the first time Rafa will go into the French open with no previous clay-court titles. His predicted final opponent, Novak Djokovic will be coming fresh off a title win at the Italian Open, which will give him the confidence to go all the way. 

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Image Credits: Roland Garros Twitter