For many years, tennis fans could rely on Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Serena Williams or Simona Halep to dominate clay events from Barcelona to Madrid to Rome and Paris.
Big changes came in 2023. Federer and Serena retired. Murray fell into a slump before retiring. Halep was banned for alleged doping and never regained her form. Nadal, citing a hip injury, didn’t even play in Spain. Djokovic, meanwhile, saved his best for Roland Garros, where he beat Casper Ruud in straight sets in the final.
Iga Swatiek won the French Open in 2023 and 2024 before Coco Gauff took it in 2025. But she still lacks the star power of Serena and Sabalenka.
Stefanos Tsitsipas has never really recovered from blowing a 2-set lead to Djokovic in the 2021 final. Alex Zverev has yet to win a major.
Jannik Sinner has never won a big clay event, and has no clay titles since winning Umag in Croatia in 2022.
All of this opens the way for Carlos Alcaraz to be the new King of Clay if he can win his third French Open in a row, after beating Zverev in 2024 and Sinner in 2025.
But there’s another guy worth mentioning — Novak Djokovic — who won the French Open in 2023 and the 2024 Paris Olympics at Roland Garros. He will face a huge mountain to win on grueling clay at age 39. Rafa last won it at age 36. The previous record holder was Andres Gimeno, who won RG at age 34 in 1972.
But Djokovic might have something in his favor going into Roland Garros. While Novak rests and trains, Alcaraz will likely go all out to win Barcelona and Madrid in his native Spain, even at risk of injury or burn out. He’ll also feel the pressure of trying to hold all four majors at once (after winning the US Open and Australian Open), as well as becoming the first man to win the calendar grand slam since Rod Laver in 1969.
And it’s Djokovic, not Alcaraz, who can summon memories of beating the King of Clay at Roland Garros in 2015 and 2021 after an epic 93-minute third set. Djokovic also beat Nadal 6-1, 6-4 at the Paris Olympics. Alcaraz, on the other hand, never played Nadal at Roland Garros.
—words and images copyright Christopher Johnson Globalite Media all rights reserved
Grand Slam Magazine 