By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday September 19, 2020

If you’re handicapping Roland Garros favorites, you might want to put a certain 12-time champion at the top of your list, says Novak Djokovic.



The Serb, speaking after his three-set win over Dominik Koepfer in Rome, says that what Rafael Nadal--he of the 93-2 career record on the terre battue--has done could be the most remarkable achievement of all the remarkable achievements that have been etched into the annals of tennis during the Big Three era.

“We all know who the main favorite is there,” said Djokovic. “Nadal and everything that he has achieved there, losing maybe a couple matches in his entire career on that court, which is probably the most impressive record that anybody has on any court, so yeah, of course you would put him right in front as the favorite to win it.”

Djokovic says that oddsmakers would be remiss to sleep on Dominic Thiem, who is fresh off his first Grand Slam title in New York, as well.

“Dominic Thiem has been playing a couple of finals there, last couple of years, so he’s definitely right up there,” Djokovic said.

And, if you’re tracking the odds at home, don’t forget about the former champion also known as Nole, says the Serb. “I like my chances if I prepare myself well,” the World No.1 said. “I won that tournament, I played the finals before, I had always good results in Roland Garros.”

No matter who emerges as the hot favorite, we should expect that there will be many challenges facing all players, whether former champions or not.

“Obviously it’s going to be strange without crowds,” Djokovic said. “We’ve been hearing that they’ve been allowing crowds and then reducing that so we don’t know how that’s going to look. Clay court is the most demanding physically I think even mentally surface on the tour. You have to be really ready for best-of-five for a stretch of two weeks so, let’s see.”

Qualifying at Roland Garros begins on Monday September 21st, with main draw play commencing on Sunday September 27.