Will there be any difference for the defending champion 13 days from now? Excitable soothsayers are alighting upon the fact that this is only the second year since 2004 (along with 2015) that Nadal has not won multiple titles prior to Roland-Garros, with just his Rome victory under his belt.
“In Monte Carlo I wasn’t ready,” offered Nadal in analysis of his clay season to date. “In Madrid I played well but I guess I didn’t play sufficiently well. You're playing against the best players in the world, and you lose. I managed to win in Rome.
“All I want is to fight and compete. And in Roland-Garros, it's the same. You can't hope to have always the same results. Now I'm fighting for this title, which is very important. I have my own analysis of what happened, and this tournament is very important for me. It's probably the most special and important in my tennis career.”
Up to a point, Hanfmann could say the same of Roland-Garros 2019. Gloomily, he pondered: “I tried to play some lefties in practice. I told them: ‘Maybe you can try to be Rafa a little bit.’ But nobody can be him. In the match, I tried to do what all the good players do against him and neutralise his second serve. But it’s quite hard.”
So there you have it. Playing Rafael Nadal at Roland-Garros is “quite hard”. Yep. That’s about the size of it.