The clay season is rapidly moving toward a conclusion. After the Rome Masters, only the French Open will be left on the calendar, and then the tour will move to grass in various spots throughout Europe. Certain players have been injured during the clay-court season, so they are separate from players who have played in many tournaments but have struggled. Nick Kyrgios hasn’t “struggled” so much as he’s been physically unable to perform. Among players who are simply not playing well, here is a list of four:
Andy Murray
It is true that Murray had some shoulder problems and was not 100 percent coming out of Indian Wells, and it is also true that Murray was not yet fully recovered in Monte Carlo. However, he has continued to play tournaments – in Barcelona, Madrid, and now Rome. Nothing is working for him. Murray once again failed to get past the round of 16 at any of the clay Masters 1000 tournaments this year when he lost to Fabio Fognini in straight sets in the round of 32 in Rome on Tuesday. The match was 6-2, 6-4, but it felt more lopsided than that. Fognini led 5-2 in the second set before getting a little careless. He was miles ahead of Murray in this match, and while the Italian deserves credit for playing well, his opponent didn’t have the strength or the high level of play which could have intimidated Fognini and caused him to hesitate a little more. Murray is clearly in a rut where he needs more match play but hasn’t been able to survive in tournaments long enough to get that extra on-court seasoning. He’s not a good choice to win the French Open because he’s simply too rusty.
Tomas Berdych
The Czech was a top-10 stalwart for a long time, but now he is outside the top 10 and trying to work his way back into it. He won his first-round match in Rome, but has a lot of work to do to get to the quarterfinals and create a better situation regarding the rankings. He needs the points, but much like Murray, he isn’t lasting very long in tournaments. That has to change, so he can break the cycle and tally enough points to work his way back into the top 10.
Stan Wawrinka
The old story is the current one with Wawrinka. He very rarely plays consistently from one week to the next, and he has historically struggled at Masters 1000 tournaments such as Madrid and Rome. He entered Paris without a lot of attention in the years before he won the 2015 title with an upset of Novak Djokovic, but now that he’s a marked man, his place in a major tournament draw just isn’t as important as it seemed to be even one week ago. This might seem like a pronouncement that Wawrinka has no reasonable chance of winning the French Open, but he usually wins majors after being completely off the radar during the previous weeks before the event. He was 12-4 on clay last year but is just 2-3 on the red surface so far this season.
Marin Cilic
While other players such as John Isner, Kei Nishikori, and Milos Raonic battle a lack of form, Cilic will try to sneak under the radar and put in a big week at the French Open. Cilic has never been able to replicate his amazing success in the 2014 U.S. Open. That seems like a long time ago, but the Croatian appears patient enough to play the long game and wait things out.
Though he made the quarters in Rome, losing to Isner is a missed opportunity. He continuously fails to make Masters semifinals and generally fails to do the kinds of things one should expect of a major champion. Losing to Ramos-Vinolas in the Monte Carlo quarterfinals is similar.
On the year, he’s 8-3 on clay and that might excite you in terms of betting purposes. However, don’t expect him to make a deep run at Roland Garros. He might be a big brand name from the second tier players but he’s not someone you want to be backing beyond one or two rounds.
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