Former French tennis star Mary Pierce has picked Rafael Nadal as her favourite to win this year's men's French Open title. (Getty Images)
Four-time Grand Slam winner Mary Pierce picked Rafael Nadal as her favourite to win this year’s French Open.
Pierce, a retired professional who represented France, is currently in India for the Roland Garros Junior Wild Card Series.
The former tennis star made her predictions for the upcoming French Open during a press conference held during the event.
According to Pierce, Nadal is the clear favourite to win the title having proved his mettle in the past at the clay-court for quite some time now.
“Well, let’s start with the men’s because that is really easy. I am going to say, Rafael Nadal. As long as he is healthy, he is incredible on the clay there at Roland Garros. He just feels so at home. It’s his court,” Pierce said.
Nadal often dubbed as the ‘King of Clay’ due to his dominance on the red-court has won the French Open a record 12-time and has been one of his happy hunting grounds throughout his career.
Though Pierce seemed confident in predicting the upcoming French Open men’s winner, she admitted that it was difficult to pick a favourite to win the women’s title.
Pierce was of the opinion that World No.1 Ashleigh Barty, Romanian Simona Halep, Canadian Bianca Andreescu, young Sofia Kenin and American tennis legend Serena Williams all had a chance to grab the coveted trophy.
“The women’s, it’s so difficult to say. I mean I really don’t know. Barty won their last year, she could do it again. Is she going to do it? I don’t know. You know there is Halep, there is Andreescu is she is going to be healthy.
“There is Kenin, who won in Melbourne and then there is Serena.”
Pierce ended by saying that if Serena manages to stay healthy she could be a really tough opponent to defeat.
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