French Open 2018 - Contenders and Pretenders

#3 Dominic Thiem (AUT)

Dominic Thiem has been consistent across all surfaces this season

Current World Ranking: 8

Best result: Semi-finals (2016, 2017)

It was a tough decision leaving out Djokovic from this list, but Thiem had to be on this list he has been the only man to defeat Nadal twice over the past year on his favoured surface.

If there’s one man capable of reaching his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, it’s world number eight and two-time French Open semi-finalist Dominic Thiem.

Since his breakthrough at the 2016 tournament, where he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, the Austrian has been a top-ten mainstay and has been excellent at Roland Garros and maintained a consistent level of performance on the other surfaces.

The victory against Nadal at the Madrid Open in straight sets where he became the first man since himself in Rome last year to defeat the King of Clay on his preferred surface, let alone win a set against him proved his credentials on clay.

He has been responsible for Nadal’s last two losses on clay – but the question is – can he do it on the red courts of Paris?

Also watch out for: Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov, Juan Martin del Potro, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka.

We now swing over to the women’s side of things, where Jelena Ostapenko will bear the pressure of being the defending champion, having upset hot favourite Simona Halep in last year’s final.