"If Novak Djokovic gets to three tournaments and maybe plays 10 to 15 matches, he goes into Roland Garros as the favorite to win the tournament" - Mats Wilander

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander is of the opinion that Novak Djokovic will be the favorite at the French Open this year, especially if he gets a few matches under his belt in the lead-up tournaments.

The World No. 1 has played only three matches in 2022 so far, progressing to the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships before falling to Jiri Vesely. Everywhere else, he has been prevented from playing because of prevalent vaccine mandates.

Djokovic will also likely feature in the red dirt at Roland Garros to defend his title this year. Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo stated in a recent interview that she does not expect the Serb to face any resistance if he wants to play in Paris due to the removal of covid passes in France.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion is also confirmed to participate in the preceding Monte-Carlo Masters (April 10-17) and Serbia Open (April 18-24). While there has been no official word, Djokovic will most likely be eligible to play at the Madrid Masters (May 1-8) and Rome Masters (May 8-15) as well by the time the tournaments roll around.

Speaking to Eurosport, Wilander remarked that the extended rest could turn out to be a good thing for the 34-year-old's mind and body. With enough warm-up tournaments, the Swede was confident in the World No. 1's ability to defend his title at Roland Garros.

"[Novak Djokovic] is going to be well rested in his mind, in his heart. Physically, he has been able to set up his training schedule perfectly, at least in the way that he would want to," Wilander said. "Of course, he would have liked to play more matches, but if he gets to three tournaments and maybe [plays] 10 to 15 matches, he goes into Roland Garros as maybe the favorite to win the tournament.”

With Rafael Nadal out for the next 4-6 weeks with a rib fracture, the former World No. 1 posited that the Spaniard might not have the "perfect" preparation he would have wanted. Taking that into consideration, he reckoned the Serb only needed "a little bit of confidence" going into the French Open to win his record-equalling 21st Grand Slam.

“Now that Rafael Nadal is maybe not going to have the perfect preparation, Djokovic suddenly becomes the favorite" Wilander said. "But he most probably needs a little bit of confidence in some of the tournaments that lead up to the French Open."

"Just for one tournament, I'd like to see Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic play again" - Mats Wilander

Mats Wilander hoped Djokovic, Nadal and Federer could play at least one more tournamnet together

During the interview, Mats Wilander revealed that he was looking forward to seeing Novak Djokovic play again because he did not want the Slam race between the Big-3 to have an anti-climactic end.

For reference, the three haven't played in the same event since the 2021 French Open. Roger Federer has been out of action since last year's Wimbledon, recovering from knee surgery.

In 2022, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic are yet to play in the same tournament as the World No. 3 played in Acapulco during the Serb's participation in Dubai. The Monte-Carlo Masters could have been the first event they played together but the Mallorcan's injury has ruled that out from happening.

"That's great news because we don't want to see the rat race end with Rafa Nadal having a fractured rib, with Roger Federer having surgeries on his body and with [Novak] Djokovic not being able to play tennis because of vaccination issues when it comes to COVID-19," Wilander said.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion went on to add that he wished to see all three play together at least once more in the future. If it does come to fruition, the 57-year-old declared without hesitation that it would turn out to be the "biggest tournament" in the history of the sport.

“So hopefully we can get all three of them back healthy in the right state of mind. And just for one tournament, I'd like to see the three of them play again," Wilander said. "That's going to be the biggest tournament of all time in the history of professional tennis."