French Open: Tennis panel for Roland Garros – “Nadal can only beat himself”.

Who will win the French Open 2018 in the women’s singles? Who can stop Rafael Nadal? And: how far will Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem get? We asked around once.

Jörg Allmeroth (tennisnet):

Ladies: Elina Svitolina. Ready for the first Grand Slam title.

Nadal-Stopper: Only himself. Injury or black-out. Won’t happen.

Thiem/Zverev: Zverev will be able to reach the second week. That would be an important partial success. Nadal Zverev finale quite conceivable. Thiem, however, could become a spoilsport in the quarter-finals.

Gerald Kleffmann (Süddeutsche Zeitung):

Ladies: Petra Kvitova. If she keeps her level of the last few weeks.

Nadal-Stopper: A strain. Bubbles on her hands. A positive sample. The end of the world.

Thiem/Zverev: The draw is an opportunity for both. The quarter-finals should be in. Thiem has two main hurdles: Tsitsipas and Nishikori. Zverev reaches the semi-finals.

Oliver Fassnacht (Eurosport/DAZN):

Ladies: The winner comes from the lower half. Ostapenko, Svitolina, Vozniacki. In the final against Halep or Garcia. Do I have to commit? OK, second time for Ostapenko! It loses the least power on the way to the final.

Nadal-Stopper: On sand? In Paris? Best of five? No man!

Thiem/Zverev: Quarter-finals: Thiem-Zverev. The winner loses to Nadal in the final.

Marcel Meinert (SKY):

Ladies: Before I guess the lottery numbers for next week….. The women’s competition is virtually untypable. Mladenovic would once again be the most romantic variant, Ostapenko’s title defence would also have charm, Kerber needs a lot to get together in order to make it through the quarter-finals. I try it once with Stuttgart winner Karolina Pliskova, there is still some anger in the stomach after Rome…

Nadal-Stopper: Only Nadal can stop himself. The draw, the conditions in Paris, his own form, the long way in the “Best of Five” – everything speaks for an eleventh title in the Stade Roland Garros, and virtually nothing against it. Thiem, Zverev and Djokovic can’t challenge him until the final, but then he got really hot…

Thiem/Zverev: Zverev will expect himself to reach the second week. And that’s absolutely realistic, Zverev will reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final in Paris. Then a real acid test could wait against Thiem. The draw meant well with both and therefore it can go really far. Should there actually be a direct duel, Thiem would still have slight advantages for me in the “Best of Five”.

Uwe Semrau (DAZN):

Ladies: Svitolina

Nadal stopper: Del Potro

Thiem/Zverev: Thiem VF, Zverev HF

Alexander Antonitsch (Eurosport):

Ladies: To be honest: There is not enough space for me to list all the ladies who can play for the title.

Nadal-Stopper: 79:2 in Paris and a single defeat on clay this year really says almost everything about Rafa’s supremacy! Even if he doesn’t really need it, he also has a pleasant draw! He takes the eleventh title, anything else would be a huge sensation.

Thiem/ Zverev: Thiem will hopefully come to Paris with a victory in Lyon and a lot of self-confidence. He also has good experiences and likes to play a tournament before Paris. Second round against Tsitsipas could be a first test (but Best-of-Five speaks even more for Thiem and a surprise like in Barcelona is much more difficult). Then Nishikori wouldn’t be easy in the Round of 16 to possibly meet Zverev in the quarter-finals. The lower half is definitely much more difficult, because players like Djoker and Wawrinka could also cause trouble in the early rounds with their bad bets. For Zverev the draw at the beginning is rather pleasant to start into the tournament! Round of 16 against Wawrinka or Pouille? Assume to see Zverev or Thiem in the Semi… probably against Djoker!!

Andrey Antic (tennisMAGAZINE):

Ladies: Petra Kvitova; she has been convincing in the last weeks

Nadal-Stopper: None

Thiem/Zverev: I have more confidence in Zverev; he should win the possible quarter-finals of the two.

Paul Houses (SKY):

Ladies: Elina Svitolina triumphs against Simona Halep in the ladies’ final. Svitolina celebrates her first Grand Slam triumph and also survives the crisp quarter-final against Ostapenko.

Bitter for Halep, again she has to admit defeat in a final. Angie Kerber fails Kiki Bertens again, Jule Görges makes it to the round of 16.

Nadal-Stopper: Rafa Nadal gets “La Undecima” from the men. He cruises to the final and meets Sascha Zverev there as in Rome. He gives Nadal a big fight, but in the end once again the “Taurus from Manacor” wins.

Thiem/Zverev: Zverev now also shines on the Grand Slam level and reaches the next milestone. He beats Lucas Pouille in the round of 16, Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals and David Goffin in the semi-finals.

Markus Theil (Eurosport):

Ladies: As always, the field is wide open. Svitolina will win her first Grand Slam title for me. Kvitova is just behind in my favourites. Whether Halep’s nerves are strong enough, I dare to doubt. Garcia with chances as an outsider. Alleeeezzz! It’s quite possible Serena’s already going out against Kristyna Pliskova.

Nadal-Stopper: With the men Nadal has no real opponent over Best-of-Five.

Thiem/Zverev: Sascha and Dominik will meet in the quarter-finals at M. after. One of them will go to the final because it would be nice.

Harald Ottawa (courier):

Ladies: I would credit Eli Svitolina with the first major title.

Nadal-Stopper: Nadal is even harder to beat at best-of-five matches. Most likely Dominic Thiem, who caused Rafa the only clay court defeats in the last two years.

Thiem/Zverev: Thiem must find his automatisms again. The matter of course is still missing, no matter if he wins Lyon. Was a good decision to play there, better than any training. Zverev is even to be put above Dominic, but has not yet reached a major quarter-final. It’s only a matter of time, though. He took another giant leap. But it’s stupid to talk about a possible quarter-final now. The way there is long.

Jens Huiber (sportradio360):

Ladies: The personal affinity to Petra Kvitova is huge, but somewhere she will stumble again. How about Kiki Bertens?

Nadal-Stopper: Not even last year’s Goffin Memory Rainplane on Suzanne Lenglen.

Thiem/Zverev: Should Thiem take the hurdles towards the quarter-finals, he will be more aggressive than in Madrid. And have better chances against Zverev.

Florian Goosmann (tennisnet):

Ladies: I’m stubborn, Simona Halep. At some point it must work… and she’s just too good not even to win in Paris.

Nadal-Stopper: Lots of rain. Lightning. David Hasselhoff. Or Mansour Bahrami. But I see, he only entered the champions tournament. Only a lot of rain then.

Thiem/Zverev: A nice quarter-final. The winner’s final, against Nadal. And if it goes well there: at least a short sentence.