“We could potentially have a Rafael Nadal-Novak Djokovic first round at French Open” – Andy Roddick

Former World No.1 Andy Roddick feels there could be a potential match-up between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the first round of the French Open. The Roland Garros is all set to begin from May 20 in Paris.

Nadal recently returned back to action on the tour in the Barcelona Open but lost to Australia’s Alex de Minaur in the second round. The Spaniard said he will give his all in the French Open if he stays fit.

On the other hand, Novak Djokovic lost the Australian Open semifinal against Jannik Sinner and the Serbian will be looking to clinch his first Grand Slam title of the year.

Nadal and Djokovic have shared an epic rivalry with the former winning 29 matches whereas the latter has come out victorious in 30 games.

Nadal could enter Roland Garros as an unseeded player and he could face Novak Djokovic in the first round in the main draw.

“Any injury from here on out could be the last injury. I still feel if he gets matches in and if he gets a clean bill of health for two or three events going into Roland Garros, certainly one of the favorites,” the American said on Served with Andy Roddick podcast.

“Also, something that’s not talked about enough right now, he goes in unseeded… we could potentially have a Rafa-Novak first round [at French Open],” the former US Open champion added.

Roddick added that Novak Djokovic wouldn’t like to face Nadal in the opening round as the Spaniard has won Roland Garros on 14 occasions and has an outstanding record on clay.

“I could tell you if I was one of the top seeds, who I would not wanna play first round, if he’s just floating in the draw, is a guy who’s won that event 14 times,” the former World No. 1 commented.

Rafael Nadal is up 8-2 against Novak Djokovic in their French Open head-to-head.