Nadal is incredible on clay, but be careful with younger players - Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta looks forward to the clay-court season. The Eurosport pundit believes that there will be one absolute favourite, Rafael Nadal, along with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, but some players may threaten him. "Apart the Big Three, who are always nice to look at, this year's French Open will be a very interesting one both on the men's and women's field. You can see the generational change, and there is always a player who can take out the veterans. The first clay-court tournament will be the Monte Carlo Masters, where Rafael comes back, let's see how he will do because on clay he playing incredibly", said Pennetta. Filippo Volandri, a former world No. 25, added: "We were playing for the second place! You reached the final and your tournament had ended."
She also praised the Next Generation: "These younger players are all different. Tsitsipas, Tiafoe, Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime and that's really good. Unfortunately, Nick Kyrgios lost and he got distracted, but he is relatively young and people are getting interested at the new faces. People who were worried about the Big 4 may think differently now."
Pennetta also commented on the differences between being a player and former player: "Watching matches is the most difficult thing, when you are off the court you would like to listen and help but you have to shut up! When you are not a player anymore, you see things differently and you cannot believe at it."
Her husband Fabio Fognini will play his next tournament at the Monte Carlo Masters starting in mid-April.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2V3wD14
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