Despite missing the majority of the 2019 season with a right knee injury, Juan Martin del Potro shared his optimism on the level of his game ahead of his first-round match at Roland Garros.

The World No. 9, who owns a 4-3 record on the ATP Tour this season, has played just three events this year. But, in his most recent outing at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Del Potro rediscovered his best form in an epic quarter-final clash against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. The Serbian was forced to save two match points in a second-set tie-break, before claiming a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 victory against Del Potro.

“I also surprised myself after the Djokovic match in Rome,” said Del Potro. “I played great tennis for almost three hours, very high intensity, with the number one of the world, which is a very good thing looking towards the future.”

“But I know how my present [level] is at the moment. I know how far [away] my best level is. I have high expectations in the future, but not now because I want to be calm. I want to be safe, as well. This is part of my rehabilitation to get better and get to 100 per cent soon… I will try to play as best as I can, but I am going slowly.”

One particular aspect of the former World No. 3’s game appears to be returning to full strength, which could spell danger for the rest of the ATP Tour. Del Potro believes that his old backhand is close to full potency, which may help elevate the Tower of Tandil’s game to new heights in the near future.

“I am getting back to my old backhand and that helps me for my whole game,” said Del Potro. “I played a lot of backhands down the line [in Rome], making a lot of winners and it is a very good thing for my game. Now I can mix it up with my slices [and] different shots that I improved a few years ago. If my wrist still helps me, I will be playing harder backhands, as well as my forehands, and I will have a complete game for this year.”

One potential match which catches the eye in Del Potro’s section of the draw in Paris is a possible third-round encounter against #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. The 18-year-old enters the clay-court Grand Slam championship in impressive form, after reaching his second ATP Tour final on the surface this year at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon (l. to Paire).

But Del Potro is well aware of the challenges he will face to advance to the third round. The two-time Roland Garros semi-finalist will meet Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open finalist Nicolas Jarry in his first match. Jarry did not drop a set in Geneva en route to his second ATP Tour final, where he plays World No. 5 Alexander Zverev.

Read Roland Garros Draw Preview

“I know [Felix’s] potential. He has a big future but also he is playing great at the moment,” said Del Potro. “He plays a strong game. He has all the shots on court and he is getting better and better every tournament. It will be fun to watch him because I love his game, but we both have to win a couple of matches before. Looking to myself, I have a very tough first round with Jarry and I am just thinking about him and that is it.”

Del Potro enters Paris with the full backing of his doctor and is looking forward to testing himself in the latest stage of his recovery in Paris. With little pressure and expectations on the red dirt, Del Potro believes his top level is not far away as he eyes future success at the Grand Slam level.

“The doctor gave me big confidence to play this tournament. I have been practising hard, getting ready to play another Grand Slam at this time of my rehab,” said Del Potro. “It would be great if I finish this tournament healthy, playing good tennis, good level, because I am looking forward to being 100 per cent in the grass season and also in the summer of the United States. [Those] will be my biggest goals for this year.”

But, as he did in Rome, could Del Potro be ready to once again surprise himself on the red dirt? Only four men have defeated the Argentine since 2009 at the second Grand Slam championship of the year; Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray. It could take a similar level to stop him again this year.

Vincent Balme didn’t know who was practising inside Court Suzanne Lenglen, but the 39-year-old from Belgium saw droves of people running to Roland Garros’ second biggest show court, and thought: We have to get there.

The Brussels resident was glad he did. Balme, along with his wife and two of their children, nestled into four seats together behind the baseline, about halfway up, to watch 11-time champion Rafael Nadal prepare for another historic run in Paris.

The Spaniard and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay practised for nearly two hours in front of a nearly-full stadium as thousands of parents, along with their children, busied the grounds during Kids’ Day at Roland Garros, where main draw play begins on Sunday. It was a stark change for Nadal, who practised in front of only credentialed spectators on Friday inside Court Philippe Chatrier.

But the Spaniard didn’t mind the constant murmur from fans’ chatter and surely appreciated the claps and cheers, “Allez!”, after lengthy rallies and pleasing points. Balme and the thousands of fans enjoyed the session. “It’s a nice surprise, and to see it real, it’s much different than on TV,” Balme said.

He was most impressed by Nadal’s precision and his consistency, how he hits every ball well. “He places the ball where he wants… The racquet is a third arm,” Balme said.

He has followed the sport for the past 30 years but no longer plays regularly – a family of five and his job as a financial controller in the hotel industry keeps him plenty busy during the week.

But his two oldest children, 11-year-old Clemence and eight-year-old Thomas, both have been playing the sport since last year and were sandwiched in between Balme and his wife, Marjorie, 35.

“It’s a good opportunity for them to discover what real tennis is,” Balme said of Clemence and Thomas. “It’s a good atmosphere also, and Roland Garros is really famous all around the world, so it’s really nice.”

Clemence also watched in awe. “It’s quite impressive, seeing it in person and not on the TV. I can’t believe it,” she said, through her father’s translation.

The 11-year-old, who plays with low-compression orange balls, was most impressed by Nadal’s power. “She’s not playing that hard,” her father said.

Read More: Did Djokovic Turn Into The Hulk? | Nadal Rested, Confident Ahead Of Fortnight

Seeing Rafa the day before the season’s second Grand Slam begins was also a happy accident for Martina Lombard and her 10-year-old boy, Emil. The Parisian boy was so eager to watch tennis at Roland Garros, he stopped at the first court he saw and gawked.

“No, no, come on!” his mother told him. “There will not be many places.”

She wasn’t far off, as more and more fans filled the stadium during Nadal’s two-hour practice. Lombard, 43, said she had met Nadal years earlier on a train ride, when the Spaniard smiled and posed for a photo with her group. On Saturday, Nadal’s focus caught her eye. “I think he’s very concentrated,” she said.

What impressed Emil the most might be the key to whether Nadal wins his 12^thRoland Garros title this fortnight. It wasn’t Nadal’s hustle or his intensity that the 10-year-old liked the most, but rather, Nadal’s forehand.

Ivan Dodig and Edouard Roger-Vasselin set their sights on a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals after claiming their second team title of the season on Saturday at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon.

The Croatian-French duo, which owns a 15-9 record as a team, saved all eight break points it faced to beat Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski 6-4, 6-3 after 70 minutes. Dodig and Roger-Vasselin have won two ATP Tour titles in France since their team debut at the Sydney International in January. The second seeds picked up their maiden team trophy at the Open Sud de France (d. Bonzi/Hoang) in February.

“[Our goal for the end of the year], as a team, would be to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals,” said Roger-Vasselin. “That would mean that we are in the top eight teams in the world. This is, for sure, the goal. To be part of this [event], we have to win many more matches and play well in Grand Slams. Roland Garros is right there, so it is important for us to play well and we’ll see at the end. It is definitely one of the biggest goals of the year.”

Dodig and Roger-Vasselin did not drop a set en route to the title in Lyon, which also included a semi-final victory against fourth seeds Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara. Dodig has now won 13 trophies from 27 tour-level finals, while Roger-Vasselin improves to 18-11 in tour-level championship matches.

“From the first match, we started to build a little bit of confidence… from the semi-finals and the final I think we played a great level,” said Dodig. “That was very important for us, to play some matches and to win this tournament is definitely the best possible preparation for us to go to Roland Garros and keep the momentum and confidence.”

Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski were bidding to capture their third trophy in eight ATP Tour finals as a team. The British brothers have reached four tour-level finals this year, following a title run in Budapest (d. Daniell/Koolhof) and runner-up finishes in Delray Beach (l. to Bryan/Bryan) and Houston (l. to S. Gonzalez/Qureshi).

Dodig and Roger-Vasselin receive 250 ATP Doubles Ranking points and share €29,650 in prize money. Skupski and Skupski gain 150 points and split €15,200.

Roger Federer may be competing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2015, and he returned to the surface earlier this month for the first time since 2016 Rome. But don’t discount the Swiss on the Parisian clay, as the 101-time tour-level titlist is no stranger to success on the red dirt.

According to the FedEx ATP Performance Zone, Federer has been one of this era’s clay-court leaders in all key categories, despite it being his least successful surface.

Federer has won 76 per cent of his matches on clay, third-best among active players. The only men who have done better are Rafael Nadal (91.7%) and Novak Djokovic (79.5%). Federer’s results put him in 15th place in the Open Era, and only 1.3 percentage points separate him from the Top 10.

Best Clay-Court Winning Percentage (Active Players)

The 37-year-old has won 218 tour-level matches on clay, fourth-best among active players. He did not play on the surface for two full seasons, in 2017-18. Nadal (429), Tommy Robredo (261, 66.6%) and Fernando Verdasco (227, 61.9%) are the only players still competing who own more victories than the Swiss star.

And then there is the matter of titles. Federer, the 2009 Roland Garros champion, is one of just four active players who has lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires. Nadal has done so 11 times, while Federer, Djokovic and former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka have accomplished the feat once each. Federer has won 11 tour-level titles on clay overall, tied for third among active players with Robredo, trailing Nadal (58) and Djokovic (14).

Federer might not have played on clay for a substantial period of time, but he has already shown his clay-court prowess in the two tournaments he has played on the surface this year. The Swiss held two match points against clay stalwart Dominic Thiem in the Mutua Madrid Open quarter-finals before ultimately falling short, and he made the last eight at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia before withdrawing due to injury.

“I felt I actually came back fairly quickly. Especially now with having played Madrid, I think the decision-making also came back quite naturally,” Federer said before the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. “I think it always goes back to the fact that I did grow up on this surface. Sliding is something I actually enjoy doing. The problem is, the more time I spend on clay, maybe sometimes the more excited I get playing on the surface, I start sliding around too much instead of actually moving sometimes like on the hard courts and only sliding when really required.

“I must say also in practice in Switzerland I felt good right away. Very happy where I’m at, to be quite honest. I was a bit surprised that it went as easy as it did.”

Did You Know?
Federer reached at least the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in nine consecutive appearances from 2005-13. The Swiss advanced to the final four straight times (2006-09) and made a fifth championship match in Paris in 2011.

Three years ago, the questions were deafening: Would this be the year that Novak Djokovic, then a three-time finalist, wins Roland Garros and completes the career Grand Slam? Only seven men had won all four major championships at the time, and Djokovic was also trying to become only the third man to hold all four majors at once.

He accomplished both, of course, beating Andy Murray in the final to ensure Roland Garros forever remains one of his most cherished tournaments.

“I love playing in Roland Garros, always throughout my career, and especially in the last four or five years. I received a lot of support from the French crowd and also the international crowd that comes here. And I think because of that support, I also managed to win this title in 2016,” Djokovic said.

Just three years later, the World No. 1 is chasing more history in Paris. The Serbian will try to become only the second man to hold all four Grand Slams at the same time twice in his career, joining Rod Laver. Djokovic would be the first to hold all four twice during the Open Era.

Players Winning Four Or More Consecutive Grand Slam Titles (All-Time)

“For me, there is an extra motivation and incentive to win Roland Garros because of the opportunity to hold all four Slams, something I did three years ago in my career, and that gives me obviously enough reason to believe I can do it again,” he said.

A year ago, Djokovic was still in the midst of his comeback from elbow surgery, which sidelined him for the final four months of the 2017 season. At Roland Garros, Djokovic was No. 22, the farthest he’d fall before again returning to No. 1, where he’d finish his 2018 season. But he didn’t return to glory in Paris, falling to Italy’s Marco Cecchinato in the quarter-finals.

“Twelve months ago, the situation was quite different. Obviously recovering from an elbow surgery, dropping out of the Top 20, and everything that I had to face on the court only 12 months ago,” Djokovic said. “Twelve months later, I hold three Slams and being No. 1 of the world, obviously it’s quite a different feeling approaching the tournament, with more confidence, and hopefully I can have a good two weeks.”

The Serbian, despite being No. 1 and having won the title, anointed 11-time champion Rafael Nadal as the “main favourite”. Nadal beat Djokovic on Sunday in the final of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome.

“I think it wouldn’t be fair to pick anybody else but him as the main favourite, because he has won this tournament so many times. He has lost, what, two times in his career on Parisian clay?” Djokovic said, referring to Nadal’s 86-2 record at Roland Garros.

“So lots of respect for him, obviously, as always. We had a good match in Rome. He was a better player. Was just too strong. I felt like I had a fantastic couple weeks in Madrid and Rome, and I probably ran out of gas a little bit in the finals with a couple of long matches and late-night finishes in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.”

Djokovic won the Mutua Madrid Open title the prior week, beating Greece’s #NextGenATP star Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Masters 1000 final.

“Overall, very positive weeks, and it’s a great lead-up to what’s coming up here,” Djokovic said.

Players spend their lives dreaming of that big win, the victory that makes the world stop, recognise their names – maybe learn how to pronounce them – and hear their stories.

Japan’s Taro Daniel beat current World No. 1 Novak Djokovic last year at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells for the biggest win of his nine-year career. And for a while, the upset felt exactly like he thought it would – life-changing, validating, satisfying.

“At that moment I won, it did feel like something big, and that’s how I thought it was going to feel like,” Daniel told ATPTour.com. “But then 40 minutes later, everything’s the same.”

He had another match to prepare for, then another tournament to travel to, and then another match to prepare for…

“In the end, it’s just a match, and then the Tour goes on, life goes on. You still have to grind some [ATP Challenger Tour] matches, you still have weeks where you can’t win matches,” Daniel said. “It did help me in terms of getting more recognition perhaps, but yeah, life still goes on.”

The “What have you done for me lately?” world can be cruel: Beat the best player in the world, and you have to back it up again, and again and again. But for Daniel, the daily tennis grind did improve after his headline win against Djokovic.

Two months later, a more confident Daniel won his maiden ATP Tour title at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. The Japanese reached a new career-high of No. 64 in the ATP Rankings in August. “Last year was a pretty big step up,” he said.

This year, Daniel has his eyes solely on the future as he looks to construct a more complete game for himself and secure more wins over Djokovic and his peers at the top of the ATP Rankings. The 26-year-old Japanese, who was born in New York but moved to Japan as a baby, spent ages 13-23 training in Valencia, Spain, where the focus was on his groundstrokes and rallies.

“Very endurance based, a lot of crosscourt rallies… trying to not go for aces, trying to build up the point with a kick serve and get your forehand,” Daniel said.

Read Flashback: Daniel Stuns Djokovic In Indian Wells

The strategies provided a consistent tennis base for him, but lately he’s been trying to build a more complete game, including taking advantage of his 6’3”, 190-pound frame.

“I’m not going to be better than, for example, a Nishioka or a Schwartzman from the baseline, because no matter how hard I work they’re always going to move better than me,” Daniel said.

“I have to have that offensive side of my game… My serve, I have to improve my volleys, which I basically never trained until a couple years ago. Those things are adding up nicely, but it still has to really naturally come. I think it will still take a little bit more time.”

Adding new tactics and trying to change years’ worth of patterns can produce up-and-down results. Daniel made the quarter-finals at this week’s Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open and at the Grand Prix Hassan II in April in Marrakech. But before April, he hadn’t made a quarter-final in eight months, since last August at the Winston-Salem Open.

“We’re focusing now on getting more aggressive overall without losing his DNA of consistency,” said Gustavo Marcaccio, Daniel’s coach since July 2018. “He has already improved his serve significantly, but he could improve it even more… Little by little, he will become a big server in the game.

“As far as returns, it’s the same thing… He could easily attack the second serve a little more.”

Daniel heads to Roland Garros in a good – but precarious – spot. He didn’t have to play qualifying before the season’s second Grand Slam – good news. But his ATP Ranking has slipped to No. 107, at least eight spots away from where he’d like to be to help him secure main-draw entry into future Grand Slams.

But Daniel, a 10-year veteran on the ATP Tour, knows better than most that the tennis life can be like this: highs, lows and everything in between.

“It goes away really quick – all the good weeks. Before you know it you have to defend the points… It’s a constant struggle… You try to keep the load the light as possible, try to concentrate on improvement instead of the material side of it,” Daniel said. “It’s a long process.”