French Open preview: Rafa to win a 10th French Open but the women's champion is a lottery

Rafael Nadal is aiming for his 10th French Open title. Photo / AP

COMMENT

The changing of the guard is coming in men's tennis but it might have to wait until after the year's second Grand Slam in Paris.

I fully expect Rafael Nadal to conquer Roland Garros for a remarkable 10th time in just over a fortnight. It's a case of normality resumes for the men at the French Open while the women's draw resembles a lottery.

Nadal has dominated the clay court season winning titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid with his one failure, a quarter-final defeat by young Austrian Dominic Thiem in Rome. The Spaniard has lost just twice in Paris since making his French Open debut in 2005 and is back in the sort of form that saw him become the 'king of clay'.

His main challengers will come from defending champion Novak Djokovic, 2015 winner Stan Wawrinka and a couple of the next gen stars, 20-year-old Alexander Zverev and 23-year-old Thiem. Djokovic has started to get the old swagger back with some encouraging results in recent weeks which culminated in him making the Rome final. He will have tennis legend Andre Agassi in the coach's box and the eight times Grand Slam champ may give Djokovic the inspiration to rediscover the almost untouchable form of a year ago.

Wawrinka's form has been patchy but never write off the three time Grand Slam champion on clay. German Alexander Zverev, or Sascha as he is known, is rapidly on the way to becoming world number one. He's just 20 and claimed the Rome Masters title with a compelling straight sets win over Djokovic. The best returner in the game couldn't conjure up a single break point chance. Two weeks ago Zverev would have been considered a dark horse. He's risen into the top 10 in the rankings and now he's a contender.

Thiem made the semi-finals in Paris last year and has shown he is just about ready to make the next step. Having played Nadal three times on the red clay this season, he would have garnered immense confidence from beating the Spaniard in Rome. However his 6-1, 6-0 defeat by Djokovic less than 24 hours later would have dented that belief somewhat.

Thiem is a prodigious talent and with a day off between matches in Grand Slams won't have to deal with the mental fatigue he experienced after beating Nadal in Rome. I haven't mentioned world number one Andy Murray as a contender, that's because I don't think he is. Murray has struggled since ascending to the top of men's tennis and his form in the clay court lead in tournaments has been poor. The return to best of five sets tennis will give him hope as he's one of the fittest guy on tour, but is still more likely to fall victim to an early upset than win the tournament.

Does former US Open champion Juan Martin de Potro count as my dark horse? He's endured a wretched run with injuries in recent years but has battled back to be seeded. He showed how good he can be by beating Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishikori in Rome. However he is under an injury cloud with shoulder and back niggles.

If there are a handful of contenders for the men's title, there could be as many as a dozen possible women's champions. The absence of Serena Williams due to pregnancy and Maria Sharapova being denied a wildcard leaves a massive void in the draw. Throw in Victoria Azarenka on maternity leave and Petra Kvitova uncertain to play as she continues her recovery from the attack in her apartment late last year, and it's a field seriously down on star power. There's an opportunity for someone to possibility breakthrough and win a first Grand Slam.

Defending champion Garbine Muguruza has been in fairly awful form for some time and lost in the first round in clay court tournaments in Stuttgart and Madrid. She finally found some form reaching the semi-finals in Rome but is under an injury cloud. Simona Halep is often talked about as a French Open champion in waiting and the 2014 runner up is the bookies favourite.

But she has a knack of losing big matches and can struggle against the big hitters like Muguruza. There's also a question mark over her fitness. Ukraine's Elena Svitolina has to be one of the favourites after winning the Italian Open. The 22-year-old has won four titles so far this season including two on clay while world number three Karolina Pliskova has also had some strong results.

Like Murray in the men, women's world number one Angelique Kerber is a possibility for an early exit. She doesn't enjoy the clay and her results show. Perhaps there's an opportunity for the likes of Caroline Wozniacki or Agnieska Radwanska to win a Grand Slam such is the evenness of the women's draw. But I prefer the prospects of 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova who has been in sparkling form. But in terms of a dark horse, I like the chances of 14th ranked Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic who will be inspired by the Philippe Chatrier centre court crowd.

Kiwi hopes rest with Marina Erakovic in the singles but expectations can't be high for a player who hasn't won a WTA tour level main draw match in 2017.

Our doubles trio of Michael Venus, Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak are all capable of going on deep runs given favourable draw.

Storyline to look for? Clearly the Novak Djokovic-Andre Agassi partnership will dominate headlines in week one. Does Andre really love tennis again? Can he get the best out of the Serb who completed his holy grail 12 months ago, but who has been a mere shadow of his former self for the past year.

Matt Brown will be at the French Open thanks to Emirates Airline